Film making makes learning fun at Fulton Elementary. Join us as we experience a

Blast to the Past!

Story by Gary Olsen May 2003

he Great Wall of China is one of the few man-made objects that can be viewed from outer space. Well now the Great Wall is in the library at Fulton Elementary School... a scale model section of it, and it will serve as a miniature set piece for the motion picture in production at Fulton, Blast to the Past!

In the tradition of last year's spectacular Blast Off! which put kids in a spacecraft touring our solar system, the intrepid sixth graders under the direction of Mr. Jeff Dyer, will have built a time machine in this new epic, and will travel back to the locales described in their history books. Authentic costumes and really cool props like swords and helmets, complete the look that the students, who wrote their own screenplay, are applying to this motion picture.

Preview Film... The Making of Blast...
This short film was shot some months before the premier. We went behind the scenes as Jeff Dyer and crew film scenes that were used in the movie. Note that there are three versions of every movie file featured on this page. The turtle allows you to download the smallest movie, and it does not stream like the two larger versions. If you have a phone modem or you want to keep a small copy on your hard drive, then click on the turtle. The rabbit and rocket are for progressively larger, better quality movies. Either will work if you have a high speed connection, DSL, cable modem or if you are on a high-speed network.

Blast to the Past Premier Event
This film was taken on the day of the big premier. An exhibit of movie props and photos, including sets and miniatures built by the kids, are featured in this exhibit video.

Documentary: The Making of Blast...
The Making of the Movie Blast to the Past: Produced by the Fulton Elementary film makers themselves, this is an excellent behind-the-scenes journal describing the process of making this spectacular film. It's a must see for any school considering such a project for their own.

And now the Movie! Blast to the Past!
The Movie! This is the final production. It's 1 hour and 8 minutes in length. It's best if you are on a high-speed connection, DSL, cable modem, or our school wide-area-network. The turtle downloads a small movie without streaming into your browser. The rabbit and the rocket are progressively larger versions with stereo sound and excellent quality. The stream into your browser, playing almost immediately depending on the speed of your network connection.

Jeff is quick to point out that several other Fulton teachers are working with him to make this production a reality, from art to music, from math to science, and, of course, history and social studies are all intertwined in the production. That's how this works so well as a total learning experience, explains Jeff. "We collaborate among all classes among artists, actors, musicians, computer enthusiasts, model builders, screen writers, and that's how a real Hollywood production is made." Then that explains that long list of credits on the tail end of every movie you've ever seen.

You want to learn more, don't you? That's the spirit! Watch the short 8 minute movie we produced that previews this exciting Expeditionary Learning project, and have a Blast... to the Past of course!

Instructions For Those Outside of Our School Network (The General Public)

We are now providing a choice of RealPlayer applications for you to download and install on your computer to enable you to view the video and audio files. One is RealPlayer8 and the other is RealOne Player, which is an excellent player with many new features. It's easy to install, so just follow the on-screen steps. You will be required to register with Real.com, but these are free software applications (there are versions you can pay for if you choose, but they are not necessary for basic viewing and listening). Download RealPlayer 8 (for older operating systems including Windows 95, 98, and NT) Download RealOne Player (for Windows 2000, ME, and XP) Which Player is Best for Me? Of the two types of free players available, RealPlayer 8 is the traditional player that is free and will work beautifully to access Web based multimedia files from our site. There is also a new player available, which is also free, called RealONE. Either player will probably work for your operating system. If your system is older (Windows 95, NT), however, you may want to use the RealPlayer 8 software. If you are running a newer, faster system like Windows 98, ME, XP, or 2000, go for the RealOne player. Macintosh Owners: You can get a RealPlayer for Macintosh, Visit Real.com to download their free player options. Remember, look for the FREE players. They are sometimes difficult to find on their Web site. Oh, and one more thing... sometimes when you click on a sound or video file in our Web site with the RealPlayer installed, you get a little commercial window that pops up on your desktop. It's annoying, but a small price to pay for the privilege of having the free RealPlayer on your system. Just click it off, and it will disappear.

Instructions For Machines on our School Network (Teachers and Staff)

We are recommending (and IT is supporting) RealPlayer8. This is for ALL computers on our network (in all school and administration buildings throughout the District). This includes all Windows 2000 machines. Click here to get the free player from our network server. If you do not have administrative priveleges, please call your building media specialist to help you.

 

 

Student actors are running from a dinosaur in this scene accomplished with green screen technology and miniatures.
Mr. Dyer is running "lights, camera, action!"	Green screen technology puts our young actor in the Jurassic Period which is just between lunchtime and gym class.
Here's how green screen works. The students are acting against a wall covered with green construction paper. In the computer software used to produce the movie, the film clip of the actors can be superimposed against another image that fills in the green portion of each frame. This year the students are painting all of the scenes by hand including miniature set pieces like the Great Wall of China in the left column.
Using a calculator to figure out scale dimensions, the students are building a replica of the Coliseum of Rome.
Want to last year's show, Blast Off!? Click here! Want to learn more about Expeditionary Learning? Click here:
Bonus For Fulton Film Collectors! Download the largest version to keep on your hard drive. This is not a streamer, but the complete movie in a 350 pixels window and full stereo audio. If you have a high speed connection, you may want to download this movie and keep it forever. You can burn it on CD if you wish. In fact, here are all four large movie files! Preview Short for Blast... Blast to the Past Premier Making of Blast to the Past The Final Cut of Blast to the Past All files are in Realplayer format and require RealPlayer to play on your computer. Instructions and free software are located in the left column down.