Mission to Earth 2: Tom Helps Me

A Behind the Scenes Look at the Making of Mission to Earth 2

Project Background

Last year as Tech Club worked on its "Mission to Earth" stop-motion film Steven started stopping by my office and hanging out on the periphery of the action. Soon, I found him re-purposing sets and models, and one day he went through the laptop that Tech Club used to film their movie looking for the stop-motion software. A lightbulb went off above my head: Steven wanted to make his own stop-motion film! This was a chance for Steven to differentiate his communication and develop a narrative that he could share with his peers.

A few weeks later we had a completed film, "Steven's Mission to Earth." Together with a friend, Steven animated and filmed the stop-motion. Independently, he wrote a song to accompany the film and that helped explain the images. When we screened the film at school I distributed copies of the lyrics to help people follow the action.

This year Steven came to me wanting to produce another stop-motion film, "Mission to Earth 2: Tom Helps Me." I was excited for the opportunity to work with Steven again and to help him refine his film-making skills.

I established three goals for Steven at the beginning of the project:

1. Develop a narrative that other people could follow
2. Involve a peer or two in the making of the film; this should be a collaborative activity that encourages socialization
3. Be verbal in his direction of the film and in his collaboration with his peers

With these goals in mind we started our project.

Prioritizing Our Actions

It is important to provide a sense of continuity and stability when working on a big project like this. To that end I developed a list of the actions we would need to complete before the film was ready to screen before an audience.

1. Create Storyboard
2. Create song or script (what will the characters say?)
3. Create models and sets
4. Use iStopMotion to animate and film
5. Edit the movie, adding transistions and effects
6. Record the song and dialog

These steps were printed onto a checklist that Steven could mark off as he completed each step. It helped him to see the big picture and to keep the completed goal in mind.

Storyboarding the Film

Storyboarding is a means of representing the story you wish to tell through quick sketches and a couple of words. It forms the basis for the script you write later. Additionally, it is a good guide with which the film crew can determine the action in a particular scene.

Steven worked with a paraprofessional, Rachel, at recess to complete much of the storyboard. Rachel and I first numbered the boxes on the storyboard to provide a sense of continuity. At first we had Steven write what was happening in the scene under the drawing. However, we found it more expedient if after he drew the picture we asked Steven what was happening in the scene. This allowed him to verbalize the action, one of the goals in collaborating with others on this project.

The entire storyboard is scanned and can be viewed online.

Writing the Script and Song

Steven is a very capable song writer and singer. His lyrics reveal a creative imagination, a depth of emotion, and self-reflective insights. It is helpful for Steven, when working on a new song, to have a list of the places, people, and actions in the narrative. I looked through the storyboard and with Steven's help devised the following lists:

Places	People	Actions
Volcano Inside the volcano Underground Base Lodge Sherflog’s Computer Room City Merry-go-round Space Station Spaceship Mars Chief Yamahamawama’s house	Tom John Richard Neil Sherflog 1 Sherflog 2 Alice Jasmine Chief Yamahamawama Max Amelia Alexander Drew	Falling Walking Seeing Finding Climbing stairs Using computers Looking at computers Riding the merry-go-round Flying Meeting people

Additionally, Steven identified peers who might act in the roles of the characters.

When we sat down to write the script I took the cells from Steven's storyboard and cut them into individual cells. I then created a Word document with a table 28 rows tall by two columns wide (there were 28 "scenes" in the movie). I pasted each of the storyboard cells into the cells for the script. When I was finished I had the storyboard cells on the left of the page with an area into which we could type the dialog on the right side.

Steven, Sam, and I went through the paper copies of the storyboard and looked at the text that Steven, Rachel, and I had written underneath each cell. Additionally, we scrubbed through the footage in iMovie to help decide what the characters should be saying. This work presented an opportunity for "social therapy." I posed many hypothetical situations to Steven and Sam in order to foster a discussion around proper social exchanges. For example, in a scene where the characters of Tom and Neil meet John, I asked Steven what people say when they meet somebody new. His response became the dialog for John: "Hello adventurers! My name is John. I want you to meet my father, Richard. Please come into my house." Likewise, I asked Steven if he ever "missed" somebody who he had not seen in a long time. Sherflog and Neil, who have been apart since the last film, reunite and Sherflog announces, "Neil, I have missed you! It is great to see you!" By posing questions to Steven that draw on his own experiences ("What do you say when you meet somebody new?") and modeling them with the characters, Steven is encouraged to verbalize the exchanges between characters. While he was unable to come up with dialog on his own for all the scenes, Sam and I were able to assist and to ask leading questions that helped us write the dialog with Steven.

Creating Models and Sets

Using the storyboard, I generated the list of places that appear in the film. From that Steven and I could start making models and sets. The first place, the volcano, was built from construction paper. However, we needed to build the lodge where John and Richard live, so we borrowed Lego from Mrs. Millsap. This was a great collaborative activity as two other Tech Club students helped Steven construct the house from Lego. I started by asking Steven to sketch the house. He drew a floor plan. From the floor plan we created the outline from Lego on a base plate. Then it was just a matter of building up the levels, adding windows and a door, and installing some furniture like a chair, bed and lamp.

Additional sets were constructed as we needed them. All the backdrops were made of butcher paper, while the models were built from Lego.

Animating and Filming

Part of the management of this project was defining the time limits imposed by recess. It is important for Steven to transition back to his classroom routine after recess, and at times there was tendency for him to linger and continue working beyond the end of recess. The Autism Spectrum teacher and I developed a flip chart that helped prompt Steven to be aware of how much time is left to work on his project. This "movie contract" chart is a laminated, comb-bound booklet that I can hang from the bulletin board behind the desk where we animate the Lego, so Steven can easily look up and reference the prompts. These prompts include social cues, like one prompting Steven to say good bye to his peer when recess is over. Additionally, the prompts help remind Steven of how much time is left for recess and helps him go through the steps necessary, such as reviewing and saving his work, to finish the day's work on the project during recess time.

Steven chose a friend, Sam, to help him animate the film. Given the choice between animating and filming, Steven consistently chose to be in charge of the camera and laptop and let Sam and me do the animation. As we finished each clip Steven created a folder that corresponded with the frame in the storyboard and saved the file with the appropriate number, too. Some scenes might have multiple parts depending upon the action in the scene, so we might have a scene 2a, 2b, and 2c for example. As we completed each scene Steven would review the film with Sam to make sure we caught everything we needed. Before the end of each recess Steven liked to drop the footage we shot that day into the larger iMovie project, which we then reviewed.

The animation itself can be seen as a form of social therapy as we try to model appropriate non-verbal social interactions between the characters. For example, the scene below shows Tom and Neil meeting John and Richard.

During the filming of this scene I asked Steven the following questions:

1. What hand do you use to write?
2. What hand does Richard (the Lego character) use to write?
3. Should we have Tom and Neil shake Richard's hand?

Steven decided that it was appropriate for Neil and Richard and Tom to shake hands when they meet. Interestingly, I also prompted Steven about the front door: should it be closed when all the people have entered the lodge? For much of the scene he insisted it should remain open. However, shortly after we had the characters shake hands Steven decided the door should be closed.

Modeling appropriate social behaviors and social cues is an important component of this project. It is my hope that the student is able to take the abstract socializations occuring between the Lego characters in the film and apply the same concepts to his or her own social interactions. By modeling the social interactions we are able to have conversations about the proper way to greet people. Later in the film, for example, when two characters from "Mission to Earth" are reunited in Steven's film, he and I discussed whether we should have Neil and Sherflog hug when they meet again. The other characters have not yet met Sherflog, so they might only wave or shake hands with Sherflog.

These variations and subtleties in social interactions can be difficult to pick up. By modeling these behaviors and having explicit conversations around the social interactions we are animating we might be able to provide Steven with strategies for when he is in social situations with peers.

Editing the Film

Steven added the individual scene clips to a larger iMovie project as we progressed. At the end of filming we had a rough movie that he and I could sit down and edit.

Steven created the opening credit titles in iMovie. He chose the color for the font and we agreed on the length of time the titles needed to be on the screen so people had time to read them. There was much discussion around whether to list the actors at the beginning or the end of the film. We decided to list everyone at the end of the film.

When Steven, Sam, and I shoot the footage for the film we included an extra second, or four shots, of footage so we had space for transistions. In most scenes we did not need transitions, but others emphasized the action, like when Tom jumps into the volcano or the characters climb the ladder to get to Sherflog's computer room. Steven and I cropped the footage that was not needed and added transitions where we felt they worked to enhance the action.

Steven spent a recess entering the final credits into iMovie's Titles area. First, we typed up everyone's names and the role they played in the film. Steven chose to use the same style of titles that he used in the beginning for the closing credits. Finally, Steven typed the names and roles into iMovie. We reviewed the credits and timed the music to the credits. We needed to repeat the beginning of the song to match the length of the titles.

Recording the Dialog and Song

Rachel and Steven composed the theme music in GarageBand. They built the theme song out of pre-existing loops. The song was meant to be used for the opening credits and the closing credits, but we also used it at the very beginning of the film.

In order to get the best possible recording of each individual student we used a headset microphone. I printed individual scripts with each actor's lines isolated: this helped the reader focus on the lines he or she needed to read without having to skip other actor's lines as he or she read. Students read their individual parts and we reviewed the recording. When we had complete recordings for each actor, I imported all the individual files into a single GarageBand file. The students' lines were then split up according to the script. I used GarageBand to "stich" together the conversation and make it seem as if the recording had been done in a single session. This allowed me to adjust the levels of individual readers if they were too quiet or too loud. When the dialog was complete, it was mixed down to a single .mp4 file in GarageBand then imported into one of iMovie's two audio tracks.

With the dialog added to the film, I needed to go back and re-edit the movie slightly. Some lines were longer than the action on the screen. In such cases I merely created a still frame that lasted for as long as I needed while the dialog ran. When the actor finished speaking the action resumed.

Special consideration was taken to the volume of some of the dialog. Steven is sensitive to noise, and some of the dialog as it was recorded was too loud for Steven when we screened the footage. I showed him how to reduce the volume of a clip and allowed Steven to adjust the volume in those parts of the film that were too loud, particularly during the cave scene. Interestingly, the rocket engines, which I personally think are a little loud, did not bother Steven at the level they were recorded. When Steven finished adjusting the dialog volume levels I confirmed that it was not too loud for Steven but still loud enough for the viewers to hear and understand.

Sharing the Film

When the film was finished Steven chose a still from the film to turn into a poster to promote the film. Using the school's color printer, we printed out the picture, the title of the film, and the dates and locations for where we would screen the film. We created three copies of the poster. Steven chose three different colors of construction paper to mount the posters on, then we laminated them for durability.

Steven and I posted the posters in the library, his classroom, and in the Autism Spectrum classroom to promote his film. Additionally, I arranged with his classroom teacher for his class to watch the film in the computer lab.

We presented Steven's film, along with Pasadena Smith and the Diamond Forest in the Library at lunch recess. His film was very well received at this showing, with many of his peers congratulating him afterwards. Steven was very animated and smiling during the screening and was very pleased with is efforts. Sam, too, was very happy with the way the film turned out and his contributions to the project.

Steven's film was equally well received when we screened it for his class in the computer lab. He sat at the front of the lab with the screen behind him. We had some technical glitches getting the film to play back without dropping frames but he did not get upset. When we finally got it playing he watched the film on the MacBook with the film projected by the LCD projector on the screen behind him. His classmates really liked the film and gave him a hearty round of applause. Afterwards his teacher invited us to screen his film from last year, "Steven's Mission to Earth." It was exciting to see how far Steven's film making skills had come in a single year. We finished by watching "Mission to Earth."

Finally, we shared the film along with the others made by Tech Club students at the end of the school year assembly. This was very exciting, as we used the big screen in the Multipurpose Room to watch the films with the entire school present. Again, Steven's film was a big hit, particularly among the Autism Spectrum paraprofessionals.

The sharing continued outside of school as well. The film is posted on the Internet for everyone to see. Additionally, I burned Steven copies of the DVD to take home. Subsequently, Steven's father informed me he has screened the film for many to see, to the delight of all.

Reflection

Working on this project was rewarding for everyone involved. Sam commented on how great it was that Steven got to share his creativity with the school. Rachel was amazed by her introduction to the world of Lego stop-motion and Steven's creativity. His parents were both very excited by his work and the excitement Steven had for the project.

During the course of my work this year with Steven I was directed to an article about Dr. Daniel Legoff, who is conducting "Lego Therapy" very similar to my project with Steven at The Center for Neurobiological and Neurodevelopmental Health. In turn, I contacted Dr. Mark Mintz, Dr. Legoff's colleague, and he and I had an enriching and fascinating conversation about my work and the Lego Therapy program the CNNH is currently developing. I have left Lakeridge for a new position at Greens Farms Academy, which removes me from the Autism Spectrum program at Lakeridge Elementary. However, I hope my closer proximity to the CNNH might afford me the opportunity to continue working with Autistic students and Lego in some capacity in the future.

My work with Steven on this project was one of the most rewarding experiences I had while at Lakeridge Elementary. I was pleased that Steven and I were able to work together to complete the three goals I set out at the beginning of this project:

1. Develop a narrative that other people could follow
2. Involve a peer or two in the making of the film; this should be a collaborative activity that encourages socialization
3. Be verbal in his direction of the film and in his collaboration with his peers

Looking back at this web site and reviewing the film, I would say Steven excelled at this project and met and surpassed the goals I set for him.

Differentiated instruction involving technology is vital to the academic growth and educational success of students such as Steven on the Autism Spectrum. Finding a topic, subject, or activity that the engages the Autistic student is a means of capturing and keeping the student's attention while allowing him or her to grow. A project such as this, that involves art, writing, verbal communication, film-making, and presentation is an example of a holistic project that captures and captivates the student, encouraging completion and personal success. It is my hope that this web site and this project might inspire others to embark on similar adventures with other differently-abled students, to use their interests in Lego or film making to unleash the creativity inside these students and to share their stories and successes with the world.