In this age of instant information and the ability to cut and paste, plagiarism is a growing concern in our schools. This issue is addressed in a Brooklyn Friends Middle School short film produced to help stimulate discussion of the topic. The film was conceived, written, filmed, and acted by 5th and 6th graders in a one-semester weekly film production activity/club that would meet for 45 minutes a week. The activity was lead by humanities teacher Ticia Vreeland and media arts teacher Andy Cohen. The students were asked to create a film about plagiarism that would also meet the criteria of the Bridge Film Festival, so the film had to be under ten minutes in length and reflect Quaker values in action.
PRE-PRODUCTION
The activity group began by discussing the issues involved with plagiarism. The students then
brainstormed ideas, formats, and genres for the film. They wanted it to be a mystery, a who-done-it of sorts. There was much discussion of story structure and character development. If it was going to be a who-done-it, each character was going to have to have a motivation. The formal writing process began by creating a shared electronic document that all could contribute to. Most of the writing was done by having the script projected on a Smartboard while students made suggestions and Ticia typed in their ideas. This was a time consuming process and took many weeks; in fact, at a certain point, the teachers were concerned they weren't leaving enough time for filming and eventual editing. It surprised everyone how much the students focused and got into the writing process. Once the script was nearly complete, they had the 10 students audition for parts and then vote on who they thought should be in each roll.
PRODUCTION
The students all took turns filming, acting or holding cue cards. They had two cameras filming from different angles at all times. Though one can't tell from the finished film, the scenes were filmed in heavily trafficked areas and so filming was done at a hectic pace. There is a long scene filmed in a media center with the four main characters while a lower school class of 12 was holding class at the same time. Because of the angles chosen, the lower school students are never seen.
POST and POST POST-PRODUCTION
Because of time limitations, the scenes were edited by the teachers. The film was used in a middle school assembly about academic honesty. The entire school enjoyed seeing the film and its light-hearted approach to the serious topic of plagiarism. "Plagiarism," the movie, will be Brooklyn Friends Middle School narrative film entry into this year's Bridge Film Festival.
