The course on “One and One Thousand Stories to Narrate” ended successfully last week. The course was organised as part of Project "Rammendare le periferie" (Sorting out the Suburbs) promoted by IIS Maffeo Pantaleoni in Frascati (Rome) and coordinated by Professors Adriana Aniceto and Letizia Bredice.
With help from Fiammetta Castagnini, a coach at the Phyrtual Innovation Gym, the students produced an audiovisual product entitled “Our Ideas are Opportunities to Grab.”
The product is a small web series draft, interpreted and edited by the students under my direction,” explains Fiammetta Castagnini. "The school project was based on a 30-hour storytelling course, developed in collaboration with the Fondazione Mondo Digitale; in particular, Rosy D'Elia and Ilaria Graziano. The idea had to be inspired to what the teachers had written about the school, directed by Marilena Ciprani, on “social inclusion and fighting unease”:
"Sorting out the suburbs refers to actions that will locally develop flexible, dynamic areas related to real life, but also to the students’ desire to learn thanks to an alliance between institutions and local associations that can help create local points for growth and well-being in and out of school. The school views this project as a tool to contrast drop-outs and a growing trend of students just “giving up.”
"It was not easy to get through to the students,” Fiammetta explains, "their initial demotivation seemed insurmountable and this sentiment and attitude is recorded in the first clip. Nonetheless, we did not give up; as a matter of fact, we tried to give a name to this “disinterest” or “giving up.” And that’s how we discovered that their attitude always concealed a disappointment that needed to be “sorted out” by empowering the students and believing in their ideas as opportunities to grasp.”
The team procured all the necessary tools – camera, camera stand, microphones – and developed a storyboard. Everyone had a role on the set.
“We recited, wrote, improvised and recorded their story in five short episodes plus a teaser and backstage with the funniest moments. Soon, we noticed that the initial distrust had turned into something far better …”
The videos alternate recitals, moments from real life, sounds, voices, black and white and colour. In the final clip, where there is no longer any sign of “disinterest” the students read extracts from Renzo Piano’s “Ecco la scuola che farei.”
