90-Second Newbery films from the Foote School in New Haven, CT: 2012!
Back in 2011 I received a bunch of 90-Second Newbery videos from Jim Adams’ English class at the Foote School in New Haven, Connecticut. I was delighted with their work, and I featured them on the website back then. The Foote school is back again with another eye-popping batch of movies! Let’s watch ’em! (Wondering what the 90-Second Newbery Film Festival is? All is explained here.)
Let’s start with the most ambitious film in the batch, an adaptation of The High King from Lloyd Alexander’s “Chronicles of Prydain” by Alex H., Alex W., Liam, and Sebsastian. I loved the elaborate costumes—and holy canneoli, what a fantastic large-scale battle scene! By far the best battle scene in any 90-Second Newbery film I’ve received! The “cauldron-born” were pretty fierce too. Very zombie-like. Marvelous! Watch:
Gunnar, Renny, Ryan, and Siraj’s A Year Down Yonder had a wonderfully feisty Grandma Dowdel! And impressive wigs all around. A rousing climactic snake killing and frantic chase at the end rounded the movie off swell. Good job! Watch:
Abby’s Shiloh had some refreshingly understated, believable acting. And good camera work. And such a hilariously apathetic Judd! And the mother . . . does she do nothing but wash windows? Those windows must be constantly getting dirty. Another standout film! Watch:
A Tale of Despereaux by Julian had lots of great work with with the toys. The actual living humans did good acting too, especially the outstanding voiceovers! Ambitious and enjoyable! Watch:
Amelia, Meghan, and Sara’s version of the The View From Saturday was an enjoyable rapid-fire, dizzying kaleidoscope of fascinating events. (And nice work, Jim the teacher, as the contest emcee!)
Edie, Elena, Erica, and Isabel do a great job on The Witch of Blackbird Pond. Including an exciting fistfight scene! Kit has some great acting here. They all do. And they managed to get almost everything that mattered about the plot into the movie! Masterful!
Great films all around, Foote School! I’m already looking forward to next year’s!