TIP OF THE WEEK
This week we present the Slow Motion Effect. For some reason, kids of all ages tend to love this simple technique. The silliness of changing the speed and direction of a clip somehow intrigues us. You can use the Slow Motion Effect to help explain some other filmmaking techniques like non-linear storytelling or how animation works. Be careful though, some kids may get hooked on the hilarity of the effect; encourage them to use this in interesting ways to add meaning to their storytelling. Playing a scene backwards and forwards or randomly slowing the action is funny, but how does it add to the film as a whole? Without some guidance, this effect could become annoying to others, namely you.

HOW'D THEY DO THAT
Kids always want to make movies of their own that repeat the themes and storylines that they've come to know and love in their favorite movies. Usually remaking Star Wars or Harry Potter or Shrek is not only beyond the budget of most kids - it can also be dangerous. This week we show kids how they can safely use their toys to create realistic action scenes or sets for their videos in the same way that professionals have in some favorite films. To help your child learn these techniques, you can encourage your minimoviemaker to work in groups with their friends - combining the group's toys to fill out the set and enhance the believability of their environment. This will also help boost social and teamwork skills. You can help them to experiment with cutting between live-action footage (of themselves) and animation (of their toys) to create a believable connection between their fake environment and themselves in reality. This will help them to understand how "movie magic" is created.

VIDEO LIBRARY
Learning the vocabulary of the filmmaking world is an important and fun way for kids to demystify movie making. Having control of the vernacular gives them the confidence and builds their filmmaking self-esteem.

This week's word is "Green Screen." While you can create a green screen of your own using sheets or paint, the mastery of editing out the green and filling in a different background is easier said than done. So we recommend that this technique be reserved for kids 10 and older.The technique is explained in more detail in our DVD.

One way to help prepare your minimoviemaker to recognize the green screen technique is to help your child understand the concept of visual perception - how we can perceive to see something that is not what it appears to be. Encourage your child to find places in films, television, or news shows where the background behind the speakers may be fake - is the news reporter really standing in front of a freeway of moving traffic? It certainly looks real. But maybe the reporter is just standing in a television studio in front of a green screen.