The Hunger Games Movie Book

[Frank W. Baker]

Scholastic has just published "The Hunger Games The Official Illustrated Movie Companion". It is a 160 page softbound book.  This book, and others like it, are good resources for helping students appreciate all that goes into making a movie. This book follows a similar pattern: you meet the key people behind the film; creating the look of the film; set design; scouting locations; costumes and more.

I include critical viewing and film literacy  as part of all of  my media literacy workshops.

You might be asking: where does "film" fit into teaching standards.  It certainly fits in ELA, where educators teach "non-print texts."  Some arts educators who teach about artistic technique also include film in their classrooms. 

With the popularity and ease of small camcorders, I know more students are making videos, but they don't always learn the steps to film-making (i.e. scriptwriting, storyboarding, production, etc.) (NOTE: for more about the "language of film" be sure to check out  my new web page)

With the Academy Awards coming up, your students may be interested in film-making, and the process that goes into making a movie.