Jon Scieska
The Inspiration
Want to see how Jon Scieska's writing translates to the television screen? Check out the Time Warp Trio.
It airs daily on the Discovery Kids Channel or check out these clips.
Jon Scieszka is a guy who writes books — funny books. Mr. Scieszka is the guy who wrote the first episode of The Exquisite Corpse Adventure. He's also the guy who was the very first National Ambassador for Young People's Literature and the guy who started a campaign called Guys Read to encourage boys to read.
Mr. Scieszka is also one of six Scieszka brothers who grew up "wrestling in the living room, fighting at the dinner table, and tying up the babysitter." He and his brothers could even turn going to the bathroom into a chance to use their imaginations. In his memoir Knucklehead: Tall Tales & Mostly True Stories about Growing Up Scieszka, there's a chapter called "Crossing Swords" about all the Scieszka brothers going to the bathroom, together, at the same time, in the same toilet.
The Prompt
In Episode I of The Exquisite Corpse Adventure, readers are introduced to Nancy and Joe, eleven-year-old twins who thought that they were orphans until they received a birthday car from their parents. They are going to have to do some serious detective work (fraught with peril!) to uncover their true family history. Uncover family secrets of your own by interviewing an older relative such as a grandparent or great aunt or uncle who can share memories of your family from before you were born. Even if, unlike Jon Scieszka, you've never had your brother try to sell you your own shirt or tied a sibling to a bed or charged your friends money to watch your brother chew cigarette butts, you have a family story to tell. Your family history, your heritage, is more than just dates and places. There are stories to be told, retold, filmed and treasured!
Write It
Prepare written questions to interview a member of your family. Start with simple biographical questions, which will help viewers get to know the person you are interviewing. You are looking for family stories, so write open ended questions that ask for descriptions of past celebrations, vacations, or even what a typical day was like. Ask for memories of friends, family, growing up, favorite books and songs. The Question Generator from StoryCorps can help get you started.
Your interview will go more smoothly if you give your subject a copy of your list of questions. This will give your subject time before the interview to think about people and events that may not have come to mind in a long time. Of course, you can't anticipate every question you may want to ask. Some of your subject's answers will generate new questions or have you asking for more details.
Submit your written questions with your finished video. See the complete rules to be sure you are sending us the preferred file type.
Film It
Be sure about the style of interview you have planned. Will both the interviewer and the subject be filmed together or is the interviewer off camera? Will you include the interviewer asking the questions in the final video edit? Are the interviewer and the person being interviewed sitting together talking or walking and talking? Are you in a location that says something about the person being interviewed? Think about your camera angle (eye-level angle—eye-level of the subject—is good for interviews), how to frame the shot (shots of people usually are framed with a little space above their heads, but not too much) and how close or wide to make your shot.
Depending on what your subject discusses in the interview, you may wish to incorporate photographs or other visual images in your edited video. Make sure that you have the rights or permission to use any images or sounds you include.
Upload your finished video interview.
Resources
- Collecting Family Stories
- Watch a video clip from Ken Burns on conducting interviews
- Oral History Techniques: How to Organize and Conduct Oral History Interviews
- Using Oral History
- How to Film an Interview
- How to Produce Video Interviews
- The Sandbox is loaded with extraordinary clips from WGBH productions offered free and cleared for non-commercial use to generate new content.
More about Jon Scieszka
- Biography
- Bibliography
- Video interview (Reading Rockets)
- Jon Scieszka Worldwide
- The Exquisite Corpse Adventure, Episode 1: Just Start Reading
- Educator Resources for The Exquisite Corpse Adventure, Episode 1: Just Start Reading
