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Exodus 20: ten films, ten commandments. Pub Active Media Publishing Ltd 2006, £40.
As one who uses film clips on a regular basis, I was looking forward to this new resource for use with 11-14 year olds. The concept is excellent; ask different groups of pupils to come up with their own stories to illustrate the meaning of each of the Ten Commandments, then get a professional film production team to weave the stories into a feature length film. But the pack contains more than just the final film, the individual stories are produced as discussion starters, there is a Key Stage 3 Teachers Resource CD and The Making of documentary.
The production and sound quality is very good, the actors look and sound like ordinary school pupils Ð though some are quite young, making parts of the resource more accessible to 10-12 year olds. I started by looking at the short films, the link to the commandments are sometimes obscure, and with my 11 year old assistant, we sometimes had to wait until the end credits of the episode, to see which commandment was being retold. But each part of the DVD kept our interest, so it may have some uses in a classroom or assembly setting.
Why the hesitation in a whole-hearted recommendation? Thinking of the other film clips that I use, they tend to be very short and punchy, some are full of special effects and computer generated graphics (think of Shrek, Toy Story, Bruce Almighty, Forrest Gump). This is the problem, the competition is too strong, the cost and quality of many feature length films is incredible. A small production, even when supported by the Methodist Church, the Bible Society and The Church Army, cannot compete.
Return to the concept and perhaps this is the best gift of the resource here is a way of getting young people to grapple with moral and spiritual questions in a creative way. Explore the Scriptures together, put into today's context, grab a couple of camcorders and go make your own DVD to show to other schools or classes. The Making of story shows just what was involved and what an impact it had on the lives of the young people involved in writing, filming and producing.
RW & TW
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