Assignment: Yesterday's News
Create a news show focusing on a major event in history.
Suggested techniques
You can either present this as it might have been presented at the time, or you could present it as if it were a modern event.
Intersperse the presentation with still images and video if appropriate. You could do this as a studio presentation or lecture, and display the images on a screen behind the presenter, or cut away to reporters in the field, interviews, and video segments.
Add extra content on-screen by using text to complement what you're saying.
You could either take a neutral tone and create an impartial report, or reflect a specific editorial attitude: you may not change any facts, but you may select your facts, opinions, and words to support your stance.
Report on the event using only what was known at the time: do not include later historical events, facts that only came to light later, or hindsight.
For teachers: benefits to students
- The student is required to demonstrate an in-depth understanding of the historical event they have chosen.
- The student will develop a understanding of news media and how they present a topic to create different editorial slants.
- The student has to be aware of how a story develops, and differentiate between what was known at the time and what historians know now, or using modern opinions based on what actually happened later.
- Dramatic reconstruction makes for a good group project.
- Adding multimedia content enables the student to approach the subject in a richer way than just using written text and still images.
- Creating a multimedia presentation helps develop presentational skills and requires the student to consider what information is best presented using the different media: spoken, written, or visual.
Suitability
- Ages 14+
- Suitable for groups
- History, media
Downloadable resources
A single news presenter in a T.V studio style set ready to give a the news bulletin of your choice. Simply record your work and customize the movie however you wish.
Click the link to download a Moviestorm movie template.
cloud.moviestorm.co.uk/Lesson_Plans/News%20Program.zip
File size: 237KB
Installation instructions:
Download the file and extract the zip folder to this location:
Vista, Windows 7, Macs: [Username]/Moviestorm/Movies
Windows XP: C:/Documents and Settings/[Username]/Moviestorm/Movies
