Tips & Tricks For Young Directors
by Mark Shulman and Hazlitt Krog
illustrated by Martha Newbigging
Annick Press, 2012
ISBN 978-1-55451-366-6
$14.95, 76 pp, index, ages 10+
www.annickpress.com
Both teachers and students can benefit from this hip resource in comic book-style. Written with youth in mind, the well-illustrated information pages about how to film and produce a video are guaranteed to grab and hold students’ and teachers’ attention. But the full-colour, eye-catching graphics (hand-drawn, scanned and then coloured in Photoshop) are just the beginning. Every page is filled with important vocabulary, tips and step-by-step instructions for creating a video. Pull quotes and sidebars fill the margins with important tips, facts and suggestions to make the Best. Movie. Ever. If you’re looking for information on integrating media into your literacy curriculum, this book includes practical, school-ready tips on lighting, sound effects, directing, setting the stage, writing scripts, building shotlists and video editing. The glossary is teacher-friendly, too, so if your students end up steps ahead of you, you’re guaranteed not to be left in the dark!
Classroom Connections: This would be a great addition to a classroom library and as a resource to support integrating media into the curriculum. Personally, I’m encouraging my students to read it so they can produce their own videos for special occasions: Christmas plays, history research documentaries, and end-of-year celebration videos.
Review by Amanda Parker.
This review is from Canadian Teacher Magazine’s Nov/Dec 2012 issue.