VIDEO MATSURI

Why introduce video making into your classroom?

• Students are able to use the Japanese they have learnt.
• Through the video making process, students can deepen their understanding of language, target topics and/or current social issues and trends in Japan.
• It provides an interesting platform for role-playing.
• It exposes students to a new medium of language learning, encouraging a hands-on approach
• Comments and feedback received from viewers will promote student reflection or deeper thinking.
• To make a good video, students will need to consider scenarios, student roles, required props, lighting, editing techniques and so on. These thought processes will help students to develop teamwork, higher-order thinking skills and creativity.
• Students’ finished productions promote Japanese studies within a school.
• It’s fun and provides motivation for students learning Japanese.

Class Project: Video Making

Step 1: Decide on video content and procedure of the project

• Teacher and students discuss the format (whole class or group work), content and style of the video, for example, a drama, ‘TV commercial’, cooking demonstration, puppet show etc.
• Students discuss ideas for scenarios and how they will shoot their video.
• Groups decide their theme and video style.
• Allocate roles.

Step 2: Create a storyboard

• Students create a storyboard for their scenario.
• Based on the storyboard, students develop a sequence of scenes for their video.

Step 3: Rehearse and shoot the video

• For homework, students can learn how to do a great job in their role. Our Video Making Tips page is a great place to start.
• Students who have taken the role of ‘Talent’ (those performing in the video) have rehearsal for the shooting.
• Shoot the video.

Step 4: Edit the Video

• Although it is possible to shoot a film sequentially, making it unnecessary to do any editing at all, students with some technical aptitude can take this opportunity to express their talent by opting to edit the footage, making for a sleeker, more professional looking production.
• Fortunately, there is a range of free yet very effective software available to use, making this option relatively accessible.

More on the basics of video editing.

Step 5: Share the video

• Students can show their videos to the class. Teachers can organise to screen students’ videos to the school community, for example at a Japanese culture day or language day.

Step 6: Enter the Video Matsuri Contest!