The Pre-K Movie Premiere

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Last night, we held our seventh annual Movie Premiere where we debuted the masterpiece: The Pre-K Movie. Our stars arrived in their fancy garb, walked the red carpet, had their picture taken by the paparazzi, ate pizza and popcorn, and even received their very own 3D printed Oscars. We could not be more proud of all of the creativity and hard work this class put into this movie!

If you’d like to see the script for this four month long project, you can check it out here.

Thank you to all who were able to join us last night and to all those that made this fabulous evening possible!

The Pre-K Movie Script (2019)

Below is a copy of the script written over four months by our Pre-Kindergarten class. This project began in small groups with each making a shared story. Once all of the stories had been written, we read them as a class to find any common themes. Coincidentally, all of the stories spoke of the characters trying to find a home. This became the central problem in our story. Through discussion, we decided how this problem might be solved. Each group then went back and edited their stories to support both the problem and the solution. Eventually, all of the short stories were edited together near the beginning of March. Final touches were added as we took note of how many lines each child had written for themselves and how many scenes they appeared in. Each child decided when and if they wanted to speak during a scene.

Scene 1: Old House, interior

——–

Narrator: Shark, Donut, and R. Princess are sitting in their old house.  

R. Princess: I don’t really like any of the activities in our house.”

Donut: I don’t like the fish at our house because it’s rotten!”

R Princess: I don’t wanna watch the movies at our house.”

Shark: We should look for a new house!”  

R Princess and Donut:“That’s fine with me!”

Narrator: Together, they decided to go far away to the woods to look for a new house.

Scene 2: Train Station, exterior

Narrator: Meanwhile, Falcon and Mouse are at a train station.   They want to go to the store.

Train Engine pulls up.

Falcon: Train, will you please take us to the store?

Mouse: I want some cheese.

Train: Absolutely, I’ll take you there!.

Narrator:  They are looking for a house and decided to go to the store to buy new things for the new house that they will find.  They get the store and the Train Engine goes away.  

Scene 3: Store, interior

Narrator:  While at the store, they see their friend Bunny, who is shopping for bunny food.

Bunny: I’m looking for bunny food.

Falcon; Do you want to come with us to get some supplies for our house?

Mouse: I want cheese.

Bunny: I’ll come with you! I need a house, too!

Narrator: Falcon and Mouse invite Bunny to go with them to find a new house.  They pay for their things and leave. They get on the train, who takes them to the forest to look for a house.  

Scene 4:  Pool in a Magic Garden

Narrator:  Meanwhile, Volcano and Pony are cooling down in a pool in a magic garden, drinking yummy drinks.  

Pony: Oh I love this pool!

Volcano: It’s so warm! I just want to stay here forever.

Pony: It’s so nice!

Narrator:  Suddenly, an Alien crash-lands in the water with them!

Alien splashes into the pool.

Alien: AHhhhh!  Cannonball!

Volcano: Are you ok?

Pony: Do you want something to drink?

Alien: Yes please!  I’m ok. Have you seen a space home?

Volcano and Pony: We haven’t seen one.  

Alien: I have an idea!  Let’s build a city.

Pony: I want a rainbow city

Volcano: We can build a rainbow city

Alien: I want a space city!

Volcano: We can build an alien home!

Alien: How about half the city is rainbow and half is space.

Volcano and Pony: Yes!

Alien and Volcano and Pony: Let’s get building!

Scene 5: The Forest

Alien, Volcano, and Pony walking around, searching the forest.  Pantomime picking up items.

Narrator:  Together, they begin looking around in the forest of supplies to build their new homes with.  They find lots of metal and pink cheese and bricks and start building a space station for the alien, a castle for the Pony and Volcano, and a whole giant town!  They are very hard workers.

Scene 6: The Forest

Narrator:  Meanwhile, Snowflake Princess, Tiger, and Baby Shark are walking in the forest, all looking for a home.

Snowflake Princess: “Let’s find a pink house with sparkle cheese!”

Tiger: Yeah!

Snowflake Princess gets distracted and chases a squirrel, getting lost.  

Scene 7: Squirrel Chasing (Forest)

Snowflake is running around in the woods.

Scene 8: The Forest

Shark Robot Alien meets up with Baby Shark and Tiger.

Shark Robot Alien: Where’s Snowflake Princess?

Baby Shark: She got distracted chasing a squirrel.  We don’t know where she is.

Shark Robot Alien: Let’s leave a trail of acorns to lure the squirrel here!  

Narrator:  While Shark Robot Alien, Tiger, and Baby Shark are searching for the Snowflake Princess, they see Shark, Donut, and R. Princess who are looking for a new, fancy house.  

Shark: Hey! We’re looking for a new house.

Tiger: We have to go find a different house, too.

Baby Shark: Let’s go together!

Scene 9: The Forest

Cut scene to Snowflake Princess alone in different part of the woods?

Narrator: While Snowflake Princess is chasing a squirrel, she realizes she is lost and is very sad.

Snowflake Princess: I’m scared!

Narrator: Suddenly, the Train with the Bunny, Mouse, and Falcon on it pulls up.  

Bunny: “Do you need a ride?”

Snowflake Princess: I’ve never been on a train before!  I’m too scared to go anywhere.

Falcon: Bunny will sit next to you on the train!

Train: There’s nothing scary!  I’ll take you to your home.

Scene 10: Magical Town

Narrator: Shark, Donut, and R. Princess stumble upon a magical garden.  They see the beautiful town that Pony, Volcano, and Alien had just built!  Everyone finds an awesome house that is perfect for them.

Characters walk into set and look around amazed.

R. Princess “Wow!  That house is amazing.”

Donut “That shiny pink house is incredible!”

Shark “And a golden roof!”

Donut “We should live here!”

Shark “That’s a good idea.”

R. Princess “Do you think we should add a grill and table so we can cook and eat outside?”

Shark and Donut “Yeah!”

They talk more about how they’re going to decorate their new house.

Scene 11: View of Magical Town

No one else is in shot.

Narrator: The Train pulls up to the brand new town.  There are amazing homes for everyone!  

Mouse, Bunny, Falcon, and Snowflake Princess get off the Train and look around.  

Mouse: I want cheese!

Falcon: We should find a falcon house!

Bunny: I see a house I love it!

Falcon: My house has cheese too!

Mouse: We can be next door neighbors!

Train: Bye-Bye!  I’m going back to my house!  I’m turning into a subway and going underground!

And the train leaves.

Other characters wave goodbye and look around for a cool house.  

Scene 12: View of Magical Town

Baby Shark and Tiger are standing with the town in the background.  Snowflake Princess enters the scene.

Narrator: Snowflake Princess finds Tiger and Baby Shark.  They are so happy they found her!

Baby Shark and Tiger:  We found you!

Narrator:  Everyone is finding a house that is perfect for them

Scene 13: Montage Scenes of Individual Houses

(Orange Peel House) Shark Robot Alien: I see a paper house made out of orange peels!

(Pink Cheese House)Snowflake Princess: Look, Baby Shark!  Look at the pink cheese house.  Let’s go look.

Baby Shark: Sure!

Tiger enters scene.

Tiger: Can I please come in too?

Shark Robot Alien enters scene.

Shark Robot Alien: I’m going to put my house next to yours! Let’s have a giant party!

(Rest of individuals with their houses.)

Scene 14: Magical Town

All characters present and having pretend (quiet) conversations.

Narrator:  After everyone gets settled in their homes in the magical garden, they all have a party with their favorite foods and activities to celebrate!

Party Ensues

THE END.

Pre-K Movie First Draft

Oh my! I can’t believe it’s this time of year already.  We began creating stories for our script early in January and have now come down to what I think will be our final direction.  This in no way ensures that changes won’t be made.  In fact, if history has taught us anything in Pre-K, the characters are sure to change in these last two weeks of writing.  Remember, this story is written by the Pre-K students.  You’ll find all sorts of silliness and that is just the way we like it.   Here is a copy of our draft thus far.  We’ll figure out a title, change the format to look more like a play, and begin planning costumes and sets once we return from Spring Break.

Once upon a time, there were 2 little pigeons playing basketball. Two Big Baby Ducklings came along and said, “What are you doing?” Then the 2 pigeons ran into their house. The BBDs were very hungry and now they were grumpy. They tried to blow down the house.

2 police officers came. “Halt!” They captured the 2 BBDs and took them to the police car.

The 2 pigeons decide to watch tv. They were watching The Pigeon on the bus.

(On the tv.)
Pigeon decides to drive somewhere and get some mac and cheese. Then pigeon gets dressed in blue stuff. Then she puts on some make-up. She has to go to an important meeting with her friend Red Panda. They drive to the meeting.

Penguin, Rainbow Spring, and Grape are at the meeting. They are talking about work. (work talk). Rainbow Spring and Grape accidentally end the meeting by being too silly. Penguin, Red Panda, and Pigeon get back on the bus and leave. After they drive for a while, they stop and go to sleep.

(Back at the pigeon house)
The 2 pigeons go back out to play basketball again. Everyone that isn’t BBDs or police slowly comes over and says, “Can we play, too?”

Then they all get tired and fall asleep in a heap.

—–

The police officers drive the BBDs to jail. The BBDs say, “We just wanted some food!” “O.K.,” says the police, “we have a cage that can help you with that!” The cage is made out of bananas, so the BBDs eat the banana jail. The police say, “We’ll drive you back if you say please.” The BBDs say, “Please drive us back.” The police drive them back to the pigeons’ home.

Everyone was inside when they arrived. The BBDs knock on the pigeons’ door. “Who’s there?” says the pigeons. “The BBDs, can we please have some food?” replied the ducklings. “Sure!” said the pigeons, “Here’s an apple.” “Come in guys, we have some yummy food in here.” “You can have as much as you want.”

Everyone has a party at the pigeon house.

Freezenburg Princesses Premiere

Last night, we held our fifth annual Pre-K Movie Premiere where we debuted the masterpiece: The Freezenburg Princesses. Our movie stars arrived in their fancy garb, walked the red carpet, had their picture taken by the paparazzi, ate pizza and popcorn, and even received their very own 3D printed oscars. We could not be more proud of all of the creativity and hard work this class put into this movie!

Thank you to all who were able to join us last night and to all those that made this fabulous evening possible!

Filming Day

Our class has gone from authors, to actors, and now to movie stars! Today we officially wrapped the filming of our movie and it went off without a hitch. The students delivered their lines, waiting patiently while other’s filmed their scenes, and acted their hearts out. Below, you can see a little sneak peak of our characters in their costumes and how we filmed with a blue screen with the help from Weird Eric (our cinematographer).

As a second treat, I thought you might want to see another glimpse into the students’ writing process. This script was written on January 23rd and largely has the same story line as before. Some of the students have added speaking parts for their characters and they have introduced a problem to the story (the snake). However, no one actually signed on to play the snake, so I guess we had an invisible snake problem. We also had some very imaginative character names that I clearly don’t know how to spell, so bear with me!

Enjoy!

 

S.A. – Mom princess heart

E.C. – Mom princess Bear

C.P. – Princess Butterfly

G.K. – a pot chef

Z.G. – Rainbow the Fairy

G.S. – Gavin the skeleton (with fire hat)

C.S. – Princess Snowflake

N.T. – Izza the fairy

I.M. – Santa

V.J. – a turtle

W.W. – A Prince Zowkoo

F.R. – a princess kitty cat

T.S. – Prince Blaze

 

Once upon a time there was a little home out in the west where Santa lived and it was snowing. In the snow there was a castle where some princesses live. Santa shows up at the castle and he goes down their chimney and he puts some presents under the tree. Then he goes back up the chimney and leaves. Outside the castle there was a moat and in that moat lived a turtle. He looks up at the chimney and he sees Santa coming out. And he says, “Just gimme a present.” And Santa said, “Please ask nicely.” And the turtle says, “Please can I have a present?” And Santa says, “Yes you can,” and then Santa gives him a baby for a present and he then flies away.

Then Prince Zowkoo wakes up early in the morning and comes downstairs to see if Santa came. “Santa came! Santa Came!” Izza the fairy comes out of her room and says, “What’s going on?” and she checks to see if the sun is up and if it’s time for breakfast. The Pot Chef says that “the food is ready!” Princess snowflake looks outside and there was a big snow storm happening outside. There was lighting. The storm happened all day and snows a lot.

Then all the princesses wake up and come downstairs for breakfast. They look under the tree and see some presents. They open their presents. Then they go outside and play for a little bit but then they come inside to take a bath.  Prince Blaze opens the door for the princesses.  But he forgot to close and the door and Mom Princess Heart notices a snake has come inside. “A snake has come inside!” The snake bites her and she gets hurt. Gavin the skeleton comes with his fire hose and he blows the snake away with the water.

Princess Kitty Cat and Rainbow the fairy take their mom to the emergency room so she can get a shot and a glued band aid that she has to keep on for a while and that makes her all better. They also check her eyes to make sure she can see alright.

Gavin the skeleton becomes the protector of the castle so that no more snakes or monsters can come inside.

And they lived happily ever after!

The End!

Pre-K Makes a Movie: Part 3

We are excited to announce that we have officially finished filming our movie! The students worked so hard on designing costumes and sets, learning lines and where to stand, and how to patiently wait while others delivered lines. That’s a lot to ask from 4 and 5 year olds, but they pulled it off with ease! Now, while we wait for our fabulous videographer Weird Eric edits and scores our movie, please enjoy the third draft of the play. This version was written on Feb. 17th and became the base story for our final draft. After rereading draft #2, the students had decided that they needed to write a new script that had one cohesive story line, rather than several separate stories. We also discussed how stories need to have a problem, so we decided to try thinking of a problem first and then creating a story around it. The result proved to be a pretty amusing, cohesive story!

Enjoy.

Third Draft

L.W. – a talking football

W.S. – Dark the triceratops

Z.W.– a talking soccer ball

A.H. – a lamp

C.S. – a talking building

R.F. – a chicken that talks

K.H. – a talking bone

A.G. – a talking stinky sock

K.V. – a horse

M.H. – a talking baseball

S.S. – a witch

N.P. – spell Witch

 

Problem: The bone keep eating everyone’s food and at the end of the day there isn’t any food left for anyone, even the bone.

Person keeps going into Campbell building

A running scene

Someone wants to wear the sock

 

Once upon a time the football (L.W.) wanted to play a game so he invites the soccer ball (Z.W.), and soccer ball invites the stinky sock (A.G.), and the football invites the triceratops (W.S.). They play the game for a long and time and then they decided to stop for a snack. Just then the bone (K.H.) comes in and eats all their food and then runs before anyone can see her.

They say, “Where’s our food!?!”

Soccer ball says, “I’m hungry.”

The sock says, “The only thing that is left is a potato.”

They try to share the potato but it’s not very big.

The football says, “I need more food, I’m still hungry.”

 

In the next house, the lamp (A.H.), a baseball (M.H.), a witch (S.S.), and the building (C.S.) all live together.

Everyone is having a dance party and the decided to stop and eat some food.

The building says, “Let’s stop and have some pancakes and cupcakes.”

The witch says, What!?! “There’s no food!”

The lamp starts to pace across the room and comes up with an idea!

The lamp says, “It’s a mystery! Who took our food?”

The baseball rolls out of the house and starts looking to see if he can solve the mystery.

He looks outside and notices that there is a trail of crumbs on the ground. He runs back inside and is breathing hard and he says, “There are pancake crumbs outside. Let’s get our magnifying glasses!”

So they all run outside and start to follow the pancake crumb trail.

Just then the phone rings.

It’s the soccer ball and he says, “Hey somebody ate our food!”

“Somebody ate our food too! We found a trail of crumbs. Want to come search with us?”

“Sure!”

“I don’t know where it leads to, but let’s go.”

 

The spell witch (N.P) lives all by herself. She sees the bone (K.H.) try to steal her food and she stops her and uses her wand to make her come closer. The bone tries to run away but the spell witch locks up her house so she can’t leave and then she locks up her food too so that the bone can’t get her food. The spell witch uses her spell to make the bone want to stay in her house forever.

The second group follows the trail of crumb to the spell witch’s house and the baseball says, “One of you ate our food. Was it the bone or the witch that did it.”

The spell with says, “It was the bone and she tried to eat my food too!”

The regular witch says, “AHA! I solved the mystery, it was the bone that took our food!”

The lamp says, “That wasn’t nice. Please don’t eat our food again!”

The bone says, “Ok, I’m sorry. I just didn’t have any food.”

The spell witch uses her magic wand to make a new house with a refrigerator for the bone to live in.

The spell witch unlocks the bone and then they all have the dance party.

And they lived happily ever after.

The End.

Pre-K Makes a Movie: Part 2

In this installment of the Pre-K’s script-writing adventure, the gang attempts to change the existing script based on the new characters that they have picked. As they move through the story, they are challenged to change bits of the story so that the story make sense. In the first draft, Elsa freezes the sandwiches with her ice powers, however, now C.S. has changed her character to Super Girl, so she also has to change her super powers to match her new character. This proves to be a more challenging task as the students delve into more complex problems in their writing. While the story is incredibly funny and imaginative, it ends up being four completely different story lines.

Will the students find a way to create a story that ties all of the characters together? We’ll find out in our next installment of “Pre-K Makes a Movie”. Until then, please enjoy our second draft!

 

Second Draft

(Feb. 9, 2016)
L.W. – Red Hulk
W.S. – Yoda
Z.W. – Incredible Hulk
A.H. – Mike the green power ranger
C.S. – Super girl
R.F. – a chicken that talks
K.H. – Loretta
A.G. – a duck that blows bubbles out of his mouth
K.V. – Elsa
M.H. – Zombie Pig Man
S.S. – Darth Vader
N.P. – Thorn Rosa

Once upon a time the Incredible Hulk (Z.W.) is in the loft. Then the Green Power Ranger (A.H.) came and meets him for lunch. Then Super girl (C.S.) came out and said, “Hmm probably I should use my laser eyes to burn their sandwiches”. The Hulk (Z.W.) puts the sandwich in the fridge for 6 hours so that it cools off and then he warms it in the microwave.
Red Hulk (L.W.) was flying a ship and saw a red light and Zombie Pig Man (M.H.) was crossing the street to the taco shop and Red Hulk (L.W.) said, “Get outta the way”. Thorn Rosa (N.P.) hops on Red Hulk’s ship. Then Red Hulk came and found the sandwiches and then eats them up. Thorn Rosa (N.P.) presses a button and it tells them where the Incredible Hulk is. Loretta (K.H.) comes flying in a different ship and stays on his ship until she gets to the market store. Loretta goes in the market and eats a taco.
Yoda (W.S.) says, “Buenos dias. Como Estas?”
Incredible hulk (Z.W.) says, “I don’t understand those words. I don’t speak Spanish.”
Yoda (W.S.) says, “It means ‘Hi’.”
Incredible Hulk (Z.W.), “Hi, how are you doing? I’m doing good. Have you had a busy day yet?
Yoda, “Yes.”
Incredible Hulk, “What have you been doing that’s busy?”
Yoda, “Playing around.”
Incredible Hulk, “What games?”
Yoda, “‘Sorry’ with my mommy and daddy and by brother Miles.”
Incredible Hulk, “What time?”
Yoda, “Today, before I took a nap.”
And then they were friends.
Then, Duck (A.G.) makes a boat out of ice and he sails back to land and he goes on a bus back to town and he eats pizza. Then the chicken (R.F.) crosses and street and he sit down and he watches the cars and eat a sandwich. Darth Vader (S.S.) turns on some music and Elsa (K.V.) comes over and starts dancing. Then everyone comes and joins in the dance party.
The End.

Pre-K Makes a Movie! (First Draft)

For the past several months, our students have been working together to write their very own screenplay. Starting in January, we periodically sit the children down and ask them what kind of story they would like to write. We usually start by having each child choose a character and then they take turns adding details onto the story. The story is completely their own and can include almost anything the students’ dream up. The first few writing sessions usually result in a story that has little to no plot and often very little dialogue. It takes a few practices to understand how to work together to create a story that not only makes sense but involves all of the characters.

The next time the children sit down to write, they can choose to either change the story they wrote last time or try to write a whole new story. The students are allowed to change their characters and the storyline as many times as they want until spring break. Now that we have returned from spring break, we will begin practicing our lines for the play and designing costumes and sets.

On April 26th, our friend Weird Eric will visit the class to film and help us turn our little student-written screenplay into a movie! On May 19th, we will premiere the Pre-K Movie to our families and friends. Until then, please enjoy the students’ first draft.

First Draft

Jan 7, 2016

N.P. – Thorn Rosa

A.H. – Blue ninja 1

R.F. – Creeper 1

C.S.– Elsa 1

K.V. – Elsa 2

M.H. – Minecraft zombie 1

L.W. – Yoda

L.Z. – creeper 2

W.S. – blue ninja 2

Z.W. – Minecraft zombie 2

K.H. – Princess Leia

A.G. – Blue ninja 3

S.S. – Blue ninja 4

 

Once upon a time the Minecraft Zombie 2 (Z.W.) is in the loft. Then the blue ninja 1 (A.H.) came and meets him for lunch. Then Elsa 1 (C.S.) came out and said, “Hmm probably we should take their sandwiches and freeze them”. The minecraft zombie 2 (Z.W.) and the creeper 2 (L.Z.) warmed up the sandwiches in the toaster.

Yoda (L.W.) was flying a ship and saw a red light and Minecraft zombie 2 (M.H.) was crossing the street to the taco shop and Yoda said, “Get outta the way!”. Thorn Rosa (N.P.) hops on Yoda’s ship. Then Yoda (L.W.) came and found the bad guys and he turns them into bunnies and then Thorn Rosa (N.P.) finds the bunnies and they’re standing near the toaster oven and she locks them up in a doorway. Princess Leia (K.H.) comes flying in from a different ship and becomes friends with the zombie bunnies. The blue ninja 2 (W.S.) also becomes friends with the bunnies. Blue ninja 3 (A.G.) makes a boat out of ice and he sails back to land and he goes on a bus back to town and he eats pizza.

The creeper 1 (R.F.) crosses and street and he sit down and he watches the cars and eat a sandwich. Blue Ninja 4 (S.S.) turns on some music and Elsa 2 (K.V.) comes over and starts dancing. Then everyone comes and joins in the dance party.

The End.

 

 

Post-Filming

050714_4109As most of you know, we filmed our movie on Wednesday.  Our Cinematographer, Coty Giannelli, arrived right on time and ready to roll. The costumes had their last minute fixes and we were off!  We ran through the scenes, and ran through the scenes, and ran through the scenes again.  Almost all of the costumes stayed together, with only a couple of heads rolling away.

Though a bit taken aback that the process lasted so long, the children were surprisingly patient and resilient.  Two and one half hours and one newly altered squid head later….we finally said, “Cut!”

050714_4112Of course, we didn’t make the children spend the entire two hours filming.  Our original plan had been to spend some time outside in between scenes.  The weather simply didn’t get the memo.  As we switched between scenes, small groups went around the corner to read in the library.  Sometimes I read to them, sometimes they read to each other.  Generally, we relaxed between takes.

When we asked the children what the most challenging parts of movie making were, they offered many suggestions.

  1. Making your costume
  2. To decide what character you want to be
  3. You can’t take a drink when you are filming
  4. Keeping your costume from getting broken
  5. It takes a long time
  6. Remembering your lines

050714_4110Although none of the children mentioned it, we’d like to add one more challenging aspect:

Staying frozen when you are a four or five-year-old actor who is supposed to be an inanimate object

….but maybe that goes without saying.

 

We are looking forward to the final cut from Coty within the next few weeks.  Your invitations to the PKN Movie Premiere Night were sent home in your child’s backpack last Friday.  It will be held on May 29th in the evening.