The Mobile Film Classroom

The Mobile Film Classroom is the signature enrichment program that defines the Mary Pickford Institute. It is a digital media production studio-on-wheels that travels throughout Los Angeles County and its environs to bring digital media instruction to students who do not have access to technology at their school or home.
 
Our core curriculum is The Identity Project, an introductory course in 21st Century storytelling. The project highlights students’ life stories incorporating their families, friends and personal goals into the learning experience.
 
Over a period of three to six weeks, students are instructed in the basics of digital media filmmaking and learn to use critical thinking skills to plan, conduct research, script, film, interview, narrate, incorporate photos, music and other media into a short documentary.
           
Each session of the hands-on-project-based curriculum introduces students to a different digital production skill. This class is designed to actively engage students as they develop proficiency in CTE Technology Standards as related to Media Arts.
 
As a Los Angeles City and County approved vendor, MPI has worked with over 60 Southern California venues, including LAUSD, LACOE, LA’s Best, the YMCA, Boys and Girls Club, Legacy LA and many other community-based organizations.

Teach The Teachers: Professional Development Workshop

A hands-on digital media enrichment workshop for teachers and administrators on how to use and incorporate digital technology into current curriculum and maximize the tools already available to them and is based on our core curriculum, The Identity Project, which highlights a student’s life story into the learning experience.

During a three-hour course in 21st century digital media storytelling, teachers are instructed in the basics of digital media filmmaking; learning to script, film, interview, narrate, incorporate photos, music and other digital media into a short documentary.

The training demonstrates how teachers can engage students in their own learning via arts integrated instruction by combining the technology students use daily with their stories of families, friends and personal goals into the learning experience. This creates a level of personal connection and added depth in the classroom through a creative inquiry-based process of teaching and learning.

The Filmmaker’s Boot Camp

In 12 interactive classes, MPI instructors immerse students in the creative process from concept to completed production. Students work together in production teams and are guided through a step‑by‑step journey to complete several 3-5 minute, narrative videos.  By workshop end, students will take away not just new digital skills, but an understanding of narrative construction, a confident mindset that enables them to articulate their experiences and a foundation for a lifelong pattern of investigation, analysis, and creative association. The workshop meets California Educational Standards in English, history and media education.

Silent Film Day

Create a powerful event for your school and discover what it means to be a pioneer in the film industry. In a one-day total immersion program, The Mary Pickford Institute’s Mobile Film Classroom will be open for tours throughout the day, while a team of pre-selected students will, script, shoot and edit a short silent film featuring their school. Students will create a black and white silent film about their school incorporating actual clips from silent films and premiere it an assembly program that explains the early days of filmmaking for the entire school.

Creative Force Community

A 10-week multi-media production lab housed in the MPI offices for young adults, 19-25. Students are required to attend all sessions and produce a finished project at the end of the 10-week period. MPI staff mentors the students through the filmmaking process from concept to completion: development of an idea, scriptwriting, pre production planning, filming and editing. The session culminates with a public screening of everyone’s work. Past projects have included music videos, short films and a feature film.

Capturing Light, Sound and Action (Pilot Program)

In 12 hands-on sessions, MPI instructors introduce students to the science, history and art behind the development of photography, sound recording, motion pictures and computer technology.  Students build such equipment as their own camera obscura, zoetrope, and sound box as they gain knowledge of early silent films, the introduction of sound, image delivery mediums from nitrate to digital media, programming and networking to the present day use of 3-D and digital FX. The workshop meets California Educational Standards in science, history and art appreciation.