2021 ISTE Creative Constructor Lab Conference

 
This weekend I attended the 2021 ISTE Creative Constructor Lab Conference and presented 5 workshops on topics ranging from augmented reality to animation. The event is always a great experience because it's focused on creativity and innovation allowing many hands-on learning sessions and design challenges. 

I helped close out the mainstage session on Friday evening with a design challenge using Adobe Creative Cloud Express (formerly known as Adobe Spark) to create a short visual story focused on social-emotional learning and mindfulness tools. Here's a look at the Padlet with a few examples of educator stories.

Thanks to everyone who attended my #ISTECCL session on #animation this morning, I'll be sharing more resources but I'd love to see what you created too! Here's an animation created in @BinaryMoon's #BrushNinja to celebrate @iste's conference weekend ! pic.twitter.com/5MBXLy1E3V

— Tim Needles (@timneedles) October 16, 2021

The next session was focused on animation and we explored a varied of tools and approaches from simple free digital 2D animation tools like Brush Ninja to experimental tools like Google's 3D Monster Mash. That session was followed my a Creativity Salon in which attendees could chat and ask questions so we discussed some fun and engaging gamification tools and new emerging media. 

On Sunday, I had the opportunity to present with my pals Jen Williams, author of Teach Boldy, and Matt Dombrowski and we shared how to create GIFs and different ways to use them in class. As mems and GIFs are always popular with kids it was an interesting session and fun sharing our work out on social media.

The final session of the weekend was on augmented reality and I showed off a new AR tool that I've been using called EyeJack which allowed me to combine the social-emotional story from the 1st session along with the animation from the 2nd session together into an augmented reality work. The image above shows how easy the process was and below you can see it in action! 

My #ISTECCL session on #AugmentedReality video poems at the AR/VR Playground starts in 30 minutes-learn tools & techniques like how to pair #AR & Animation together with the @eyejackapp to make a video poem! pic.twitter.com/7UKsbdXCuT

— Tim Needles (@timneedles) October 17, 2021

It was a fast and furious conference but always enjoyable and in addition to sharing I was able to attend some great sessions and take away some new tools and tricks. My book STEAM Power is currently on sale in the ISTE book store as part of the event along with Jen's book which is fantastic so check them out!

 

Film: Interview with actor/screenwriter John C Reilly

 
"Keep growing, keep moving and you’ll find the world that you need" 

This Friday's advice comes from Oscar and Grammy nominated actor, singer, and screenwriter John C Reilly who you probably know from films like: Step Brothers, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Chicago, Gangs of New York, Boogie Nights, Casualties of War, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, and one of my favorites What's Eating Gilbert Grape. I interviewed him a few times over the years but here's a snippet from the press tour for the 2011 film Terri in which he plays a high school assistant principal. 

Mr. Needles: What's your advice for students who are being bullied or having a difficult time in high school? 

John C. Reilly: If you’re in high school and you’re freaking out about your place in the pecking order and you feel like a monster or an outcast and you feel like, in the deck of cards that is high school there’s the aces and the kings and queens and you’re like the three of clubs, just know that this is true for every single person in the world- the moment you get out of high school that deck of cards is thrown into the air and those who were kings and queens often end up the assistant manager at the grocery store and those who were the three of clubs end up on press junkets for movies starring themselves, it gets better for everybody, and you just have to get through it. Keep growing, keep moving and you’ll find the world that you need. 

Full story: Short and Sweet NYC

Film: Film Titles- Spiderman Into The Spider-Verse

 
As we learn about creating film title animation sequences we'll view a few modern classics such as this example from the recent Oscar winning film Spider Man: Into The Spider-Verse from 2018. The opening titles and closing titles are above, they won the 2019 Excellence in Title Design Award at SXSW and were designed and directed by the films creative directors Brian Mah and James Ramirez with influences from  the hand-drawn techniques of comics artist and Miles Morales co-creator Sara Pichelli as well as artists like Dondi White and Roy Lichtenstein.

Marvel has created some amazing title sequences in it's films that integrate with the plot of the film and help introduce themes, here's another great example from Guardians of the Galaxy 2. Director James Gunn described the opening sequence in an early draft of the script as “the greatest title shot ever” so Framestore animation, the company who created the sequence knew they had a tough task. The sequence is all done in 1 consecutive shot so everything needed to be timed perfectly and it required more special effects than any other part of the film due to the continuous action.

Film: Sherlock Pilot- A Study In Pink

 
Today we will watch the aired 90 minute pilot of BBC's Sherlock which is titled A Study in Pink. The episode was written by co-creator Steven Moffat and is a re-vamp of the unaired pilot which was 60 minutes long along with many other small changes.

Studio Art: AI experiment with Auto Draw

 

In Studio Art we will be taking our first quiz on the drawing terms so the students not in class or finished with the quiz will work on an AI experiment with Auto Draw. This program uses AI to interpret your drawing and make it into a visual riddle.  We are going to try to visually portray a famous film and have each other guess each movie on Tuesday. Below is an example of 5 films done with emojis, can you guess what they are?

Media Arts: The Stephen Fry collaborative animation project

In Media Arts class we will begin the new year by watching the final cut of the collaborative animation our class participated in last month along with UK actor Stephen Fry for the Your Fry project.  The completed film is show above and includes each students animation along with my own.  We will critique the piece and watch some of the other entries from around the world and reflect on what we learned and what we would like to do with the film in creating a Public Service Announcement.

Media Arts: Extra Credit

This month's extra credit assignment for Media Arts class is to see and write a short review of the film Boyhood by Richard Linklater and starring Patricia Arquette, Ellar Coltrane, Lorelei Linklater and Ethan Hawke.  The film was made over a period of 12 years and follows characters as they grow up through elementary, middle, and high school and what they deal with in the process.  It's extremely innovative in its scope and is a must see film for any student of the medium.  the extra credit is due on October 1.

Media Art: Production basics

In media class we began going over the basics of a film or television production and here are two short clips that explain some of the details about the film set and the different jobs involved.  Friday there will be a test on the film terms so you can use my film terms quizlet to study.

Media Art: Film production

This week in class we are studing how films are made and we began by screening the TED video above from producer and director James Cameron who's known for creating the two biggest moneymakers in film history Titanic and Avatar. His story is pretty remarkable and inspirational and he ends his talk with a terrific quote-

"Failure is an option but fear is not"

We will also be looking at clips from producer Lynda Obst's documentary based on her book
Hello, He Lied and Other Truths from the Hollywood Trenches which gives insight into the real world of film production and what's involved.  There will be a short test on Friday on the basics so make sure you take notes!

Advanced Film: "Throw It Back" trailer

Here's the completed trailer for the short film Throw It Back which stars and was produced by Mr. Needles, the Advanced Film class, and the Media Art Honor Society as well as cameos by Smithtown East Staff like Mr. Lynch and some of the security team.  Look out for the full film which will be out this summer and will be submitted into a few local film festivals!

Skype talk with screenwriter Kevin Bisch

Yesterday we had a fantastic and candid talk with screenwriter and Smithtown alum Kevin Bisch via Skype in the classroom.  Kevin discussed his days at Smithtown East, how he broke into the business, his professional advice, and the story of his first big film Hitch as well as answering questions from students.  Above is a short snippet from the hour long discussion which proved to be both a terrific learning experience as well as a fascinating story!

SKYPE in the classroom: Guest speakers

Now that we have SKYPE in the classroom we are looking for guest speakers in the film industry (actors, screenwriters, directors, or even grips) to speak to my Advanced film class about the profession and how to get into it. Is Steve Martin, Alec Baldwin, or Judd Apatow available?

Friday Advice: Jonah Hill

"My advice would be writing is everything"

As you may know in addition to teaching I also work as a journalist and occasionally have opportunities to interview actors, writers, directors, musicians, and artists for magazines and blogs. In each interview I try to ask a question that might aid my students and throughout this month I'll be sharing some of the advice I've heard from some of the people I've interviewed each Friday.

We'll start it off with actor and screenwriter Jonah Hill; I'm sure most of you are familiar with Jonah from his roles in films such as: Superbad, Knocked Up, Get Him to the Greek, Funny People, and Moneyball (for which he was recently nominated for a Oscar and Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor) but in addition to acting he's also a prolific screenwriter. I had a chance to sit down with him at the Fox offices last year while he was promoting the independent film Cyrus from the Duplass brothers which also stars John C. Reilly and Marisa Tomei and I asked him about his advice:


Mr. Needles: I teach film and screenwriting in high school
and wanted to ask on behalf of my students what advice do you have for people who want to succeed in the business?

Jonah Hill: My advice would be writing is everything. You know being an actor and not being able to write is one of the scariest things in the entire world, I know this from friends of mine who are actors and don’t write because a lot of time as an actor, especially starting out you spend 99.9 to 100% of the time unemployed so if you can focus on writing everyday and getting better at writing- you should spend every day getting better at what you are trying to do. If you’re an actor and you want to act there’s not going to be movie parts for years unless you are one in a billion so find some friends who are into writing, write a play with them, and then you guys put it up where ever you can: in someone’s house or at a party or something or whatever, borrow a family members camera make a short film, read plays out loud with your friends… every day should just be spent moving forward at getting better at what you are trying to do. That’s my advice and that’s what I did, I just didn’t waste any day when I wasn’t writing or acting even in the few years of unemployment, you know, you just have to fill that time with things that are positive towards your goal.

Here's a link to more from the interview: Short and Sweet NYC