Ashley Maynor is a Roanoke-based filmmaker with extensive experience introducing young people to the use of video and new media. Meant to teach students how to safely and ethically use video and recording technology, Maynor offers a variety of workshops and residencies that will engage young people in creating stories from their imaginations or documenting events in their families and communities.

Residencies are described below. Ashley Maynor can also present condensed workshops (one or two sessions) on the following topics: Media literacy and visual storytelling; Hand-made film animation; Oral history techniques; Taking better home movies.

Claymation! Introduction to Visual Storytelling (residency, grades 5-6, 10 to 14 two-hour sessions)

What's more fun than making clay monsters? Animating them! Students will engage in hands-on learning as they learn about the art of claymation and begin to create their own short claymation movie. Working in small groups, they will complete a short claymation video (approx. 2-5 minutes) over the residency’s duration. By the end of this course, students will have a grasp of the basic skills of visual storytelling, including set design, composition, rhythm/pacing, and non-linear editing.

VIRGINIA SOLS ADDRESSED:

• Visual Arts: 5.1, 5.3, 5.5-6, 5.11-14, 5.17, 5.22, 5.25, 5.27, 5.28, 5.31; 6.2, 6.8-13, 6.14, 6.17-22
• English: 5.1-3, 5.8-9; 6.1-3, 6.6-7

Art of the Interview: Introduction to Oral Histories and Documentary Filmmaking (residency, grades 8-12, 3 to 5 two-hour sessions) Ever wish you had taken the time to record the stories of your grandparents or older relatives? This course will provide students will all the skills and equipment they need to do just that: make an audio record of their family history. In addition to interviewing skills and techniques, students will learn interview transcription and will finish the course with a paper edit for a documentary film proposal. Completed interviews will become a part of the permanent collection in Roanoke Public Libraries' Virginia Room! Students will leave this course with a sense of pride in themselves, their community and that community’s rich history and diversity.

VIRGINIA SOLS ADDRESSED:

• Visual Arts: 8.10-12, 8.17-18, 8.20-22; AI.5, AI.8-9, AI.11, AI.16, AI22; AII.8, AII.11, AII.25; AIII.4, AIII.9; AIV.4, AIV.8
• English: 8.1, 8.7-8; 9.7; 10.1-2, 10.8, 10.11; 11.9

How to Be a Blog Star: Introduction to Video-Blogging as Self-Expression (residency, grades 6-12, 10 to 15 two-hour sessions)
This class is hip and fun, but don't worry, it's also about Internet safety! From issues of copyright to avoiding identity theft, this class teaches kids how to safely use online tools—such as blogging, v-logging, and social networking—as forms of self-expression. Students will have access to state-of-the-art Flip video cameras to create their own series of video journals on individual v-logs (video blogs) on the web. They will learn to edit their videos using a variety of free software applications that they can use both in class and at home. Students will leave this course with both a sense of how media is mediated through editing and digital manipulation and the confidence to work with technology and to make creative and personal work.

VIRGINIA SOLS ADDRESSED:

• Visual Arts 6.2, 6.4-15, 6.17-22; 7.5, 7.13, 7.18-30; 8.8, 8.10-14
• English: 6.1-3, 6.6-7; 7.1-3, 7.5-9; 8.2-3, 8.6-8, 9.2, 9.4, 9.6-9; 10.1-2, 10.4, 10.7-11; 11.1, 11.4, 11.7-10; 12.1-4, 12.7

RATES: $180 per two-hour session (additional materials fee may apply) Please call us to tailor a residency to your needs!