This year the story was written and narrated by two RV 3rd grade students. Karaina Perkins' story about a family that moves from Japan to New York City was selected to lead the project from over 150 grade level submissions focusing on 'imagination.' Brooke Civiatrese was selected for her talents as narrator.
Just like Pandora's Box, DATA Di students worked with 3rd graders to develop drawings based on segments of the the story and re-created the artwork digitally in the Di studio classroom. From here, the images and narration were put together to tell the story as a short movie using subtle animation techniques in Adobe Photoshop Extended and After Effects. Sound and video were completed using GarageBand and iMovie '11. After the art and video was completed, the high school students returned to RV to present and discus their works with the entire 3rd grade. This proved to be an excellent continuation of student interaction and give Di students an opportunity to sharpen their speaking skills.
This year's project/video received awards from two student film festivals. For the second year in a row, the DigiCom Student and Teacher Film Festival awarded it the Best Multi-age Collaboration and provided $500 towards next year's efforts. The SBVC Student Film Festival, keynoted by Rusty Mahmood (Assistant Director on The Office), awarded the project as this year's Best Animation.
Film festival awards are always wonderful, but especially exciting and new for this year's project was the involvement of the local arts community. Selected Coachella Valley artists were invited to work in their respected media to create pieces inspired by the story. The entire collection, from 3rd grade on up to adult, was on exhibit at the Walter Marks Gallery at College of the Desert during the month of May 2012.
L e a r n M o r e !
~Stay tuned for the digital book~
