The Production is Underway!

While third term may not always mean Spring...or at least spring-like weather (as I write this, it's 39 degrees and SNOWING!)...it does mean "Production Time" in 8th grade. Typical of this year's crew, nothing has proven typical! The girls started the term in what we call a "large group" and stayed in that configuration throughout the brainstorming,consensus building and final cutting in order to arrive at this year's theme. More often than not, their process resembled a cross between a World Wrestling Federation free-for-all and a typical morning at the New York Stock Exchange: lots of loud, contentious talking, ruffled feathers and even some fur flying. Most amazing of all - at the end of these volatile sessions, they'd actually made progress, so that they're right on schedule with production benchmarks. Having determined their overall (what we call "the umbrella") theme, they're now busily script-writing the various vignettes in smaller groups, scenes that will come together to form their movie. This week they'll slide from script-writing into preliminary rehearsals which will then lead to further script editing and refinement. In addition, they'll start test filming some of the rehearsals and will undergo some workshops on basic film technique. We typically devote three afternoons a week to the Production, with the possibility of adding some morning core time as the pace picks up and the deadline approaches. As you might imagine, the Production is about more than a sixty minute original film. It provides our 8th graders with one last chance to hone their group management and inter-personal skills. Plus, it's fertile ground for practicing coping mechanisms as well as negotiating tactics. Most importantly, it's an excellent way to allay those "senioritis" sentiments that could so easily taint third term. And so...the adventure continues...