Movie trailer book reviews...

A recently read a tweet about a teacher who had her students do book reviews as movie trailers. Has anyone else done anything like this? If so, any suggestions on movie trailer music to add to the background?

0 members like this

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Colleen Young on February 23, 2011 at 12:01pm

Jason was this the teacher you were referring to?

See Book Trailers wiki, maybe some ideas here.

Assume there might be copyright issues with music though so one would have to choose carefully.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Jason Bostic on February 23, 2011 at 12:05pm

No. This teacher had her blog blocked. I did see this wiki you had mentioned. Thanks!

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Katy Scott on February 23, 2011 at 12:39pm

I've seen a few teachers do this -- it's a really great project. Here's a sample you could show students about 'The Book Thief.'

In terms of music, there's a few places to get music legally.

- Royalty Free Music allows you to use all the listed music for free, but asks that you post the composer's name (Kevin MacLeod) in the video's credits.

- UJAM is an awesome site I recently heard about here on Classroom 2.0. All you have to do is hum a tune, sing some lyrics, or play a few notes on any instrument into your computer mic. Then the site creates an entire arrangement to accompany your track. It's quick and easy to use.

Good luck!

Katy Scott

Stretch Your Digital Dollar

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Jason Bostic on February 23, 2011 at 1:07pm

Great! Thanks Katy!

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Dana Murphy on February 23, 2011 at 6:48pm

HI
I did book trailers with my fifth graders and posted them here:

http://ourtrailers.blogspot.com/

*** NOTE: I did goof though and forgot to tell kids to CITE each and every photo in their credits (like "Vases," from flickr.com with reuse permission.... I've taught the kids how to get copyright free pics and music. Enjoy
dmurphy@srvusd.net

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Jason Bostic on February 23, 2011 at 8:28pm

Thanks for posting your book trailers! Your students did an outstanding job!

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Ana-Alicia Valdez on February 28, 2011 at 5:57pm

The book trailers your students made are great! I love this idea as an alternative to writing a book report. In middle school, I was assigned a book review powerpoint project in which we gave an overview of the book we read through electronic presentation. At the time it was an exciting use of technology, but today I don’t think it would have the same engaging effect on students. The book trailers seem like they would be a hit with students, motivating them to complete the book and put their creativity to use. What software program did they use to put them together? What time frame was given (or needed) to complete the assignment?

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by David Dean on February 23, 2011 at 7:16pm

My 8th Grade Computer Teaching Collegue does a project where her students create movie posters based on their book. They imagine if the book were made into a movie, what would the poster look like. They have to write up a short, attention getting, engaging summary of the book, choose "stars" from Hollywood to cast the roles of the particular characters in the book, include pictures of the stars, etc.

The posters are then hung up in the hallway by her room. I could take some pictures if you would like some examples.

Also, I made a post on here about UJAM. They have a "Hollywood/Cinema" type setting when you are creating a song that makes your song sound like a Hollywood score. You could use UJAM and have the students hum or sing what they want the music to sound like, then convert their voice to an instrument. You could then use this "jam" as your trailer music.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Jason Bostic on February 23, 2011 at 8:33pm

Hi David. The movie poster project sounds very interesting. If you don't mind, please send some pictures. jbostic@stjweb.org Do you have a special printer to print out the posters? I did check out the UJAM site. Very cool! Thanks for your help!

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Shawn Avery on February 28, 2011 at 7:50pm

Hey Jason,

We recently just completed a book movie trailer as a whole class project. I found it as a great culminating activity after we finished reading the book. It also allowed me to assess comprehension as we completed our storyboard because we discussed plot, setting, characters, main ideas, details, etc.

Unfortunately, we don't quite have the technology to create individual book trailers. Wish we did though! I think it's a wonderful idea and definitely a great alternative to a book report.

You can see our movie trailer on our class blog here - http://mravery.edublogs.org/2011/02/23/bfg/

Good luck!

Shawn Avery
Plympton, Massachusetts

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Jason Bostic on March 7, 2011 at 9:28am

Hey Shawn! Wow! Great book movie trailer! Where did you find your background music?

Jason

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Marianna Kiva B.Ed; M.Ed on February 28, 2011 at 8:44pm

Hello Jason,

Go to www.jamstudio.com

If you are looking for students to create music this site is awesome. My students created their own music to go with their videos.Ask the site coordinator for an educational pass, explain the reason you want to use the music. Usually, People pay for the use of the site, I received a free access.

Marianna