Exploring Nature With
Filmmaking and Poetry
Naramata, BC, 2020
A new school year begins at Naramata Elementary and with it the launch of another Mattering project with Ashley Aokis’ grade 4 and 5 students. This year we are building on last year’s Nature Maters project which invited students to explore and express their connections to nature through video and poetry. Students first went out into the schoolyard with iPads and shot video of trees, leaves, grass, clouds, ice and water while experimenting with camera angles and shooting styles. The students edited each of their videos and then wrote poetry which personified the element they had selected. They then recorded their own voices narrating their words and added that to their videos.
This year began by screening a compilation of last year’s videos and discussing the concept of artistic expression as being a beautiful and vulnerable act of sharing. We then walked down to the beach at Naramata Lake and played and explored amongst the lakeshore before coming together in a circle to talk more about our project. Miss Aoki invited her class to take part in a project that would once again explore our connections to nature and to expand the project by sharing our connections further into the world. Through a show of hands, everyone accepted the invitation and in this way, the project now officially begins!
This year Apple Canada is partnering with us to provide additional iPads so that each student will have their own device and be able to shoot, edit, record their voiceover, add text on screen and then export their final video to share. Thank you very much Apple!
Watch a conversation between Ashley Aoki and Nikos Theodosakis describing last years project below, and enjoy the student videos below.
