The Adventures of Oscar & Shnuggle
Megan and Natasha, fourth graders at Lakeridge, wrote and performed these fun puppet shows!
Project Background
I noticed that Megan and Natasha would often play with the puppets at recess in the library and I thought that they might be interested in filming one of their puppet shows. I introduced myself and explained that Tech Club was going to start making films soon. I asked them if they would like to film a puppet show. They thought about it for a couple of days and responded that they would like to film a puppet show. I provided them with storyboard sheets so they could outline the action that occurs during the puppet show.
A New Puppet Theatre
First things first, we needed a new puppet theatre. The one in the library had clearly seen better days.
The cardboard was torn and it resembled a broken down cardboard box rather than a usable puppet theatre. I consulted with the girls about what size puppet theatre would be useful to them. For example, there was room for only one puppeteer in the old theatre, so we decided the new one should be large enough that there could be two puppeteers using the theatre at the same time. We also talked about color schemes. I drew a picture of the theatre and they liked the design. After that it was a matter of cutting up a large box to make the new theatre. Once I had the theatre constructed I took a photo of it and printed it out so we could figure out the color scheme for the new theatre.
We used crayons to color in the printout, deciding on the colors that we wanted to paint the theatre and the rock design we wanted on the side. We broke out the tempura paint and over the course of several recesses we painted the new theatre. It looked really sharp when we were finished.
I repurposed a cardboard tube from the center of a rolled up rug to make a hanger for the curtain, then my mother helped me to sew a simple curtain. The great thing about this design is that the students can perform from behind the curtain, with the puppets held in front of the curtain. Alternately, the curtain can be moved aside so the student can interact with the puppet she or he is using.
Side by side, you can see how much nicer the new theatre is compared to the old one.
Shortly after this photo was taken, we recycled the old puppet theatre.
Writing the "Script"
The girls took a couple of weeks and eventually filled out the storyboard sheet and returned it to me. The storyboard explained the plot of the puppet show and also included a number of speech balloons. The girls did not write a script, per se, but rather rehearsed the puppet show until they were ready to perform. My wife suggested that the girls might prefer to work on a project like this in such a way, that the point of the exercise for them was performance, not writing, and that there might not be a script produced but the girls would have a puppet show to perform. She was right, and the girls seemed to have memorized their "script" through their many rehearsals.
Performing the Puppet Show
We decided to film the puppet show during recess in the girls' classroom. This helped keep the crowds down, the other noise to a minimum, and helped me to remain focused on this task rather than being pulled in different directions by other students.
The puppet theatre was set on a desk so the girls could stand behind it. We took some time to set up the theatre and the props then the girls were ready to perform.
I hooked a microphone to the DV video camera but I explained to the girls that I thought we would re-record the dialog during the production phase of the film.
The girls required only one take to perform the play.
Editing the Footage
Next, I taught the girls the basics of video editing using iMovie. We needed to trim the footage of me announcing "Action" at the beginning of the clips, and trim some other footage as well. Once the film was edited, we created a new Movie Soundtrack in GarageBand and imported our iMovie footage. We were able to mute the video's sound track but I kept it in the project so the girls could see the sound waves and know when they needed to deliver their lines. We were able to watch the footage as we recorded the audio, which made it simple to do the voice-overs. We were able to re-record the dialog in one recess.
To finish it up, I found a number of lute loops in GarageBand that I thought would sound good as we rolled the titles. The girls chose one they liked and we added the music to the movie.
Sharing Our Work
Once everything was edited it was time to share our work with other Tech Club members and the school. Megan and Natasha decided that they also wanted to screen the film for their class.
The film was processed using iMovie HD and QuickTime 7. From the File menu I selected Export. Under the QuickTime tab I selected Expert Settings, then clicked the Share button. In the Save dialog box, under Export, I selected "Movie to QuickTime Movie." I clicked the Options button. Under the Video options, I clicked the Settings button. The MPEG-4 compressor was used for this project. Medium compression was fine for this film. I selected MPEG-4 as the Compression Type. Data Rate was restricted to 600 kb/sec, with a frame rate of 15 frames per second and key frames every five frames.
Audio was also downsampled. It was remained stereo but the the target bit rate was set to 32.
Finally, the option to "Prepare for Internet Streaming" was selected, as was "Fast Start." This brought the file size down from about 240 MB to 19 MB, much better for viewing on the internet.
The video was also screened live in front of the class. The class thought it was a funny film.
I also used Toast to burn copies of the film to DVD for the girls.
Reflection
It was great to get more students involved in Tech Club through this project. Both girls were surprised at how easy it was to transform their visions into a film. Once the puppet theatre was constructed it took us only two days to produce this film. The girls learned the new skill of video editing as part of the process.
I learned more about the ways girls collaborate and work on projects together. It was interesting for me to see a project that was so entirely based around the performance of the material.
I noted that the girls had titled this movie "Episode 1." When asked whether there might be more episodes, they told me that they were in fact planning additional plays. It will be fun to see where their imagination takes them and us in the next adventure.
