Catullus: Tuffy the
Tugboat meets the Brave Little Toaster
Catullus on Video
Our video was the highlight
of the year, even though it was finally finished in January.
We chose Poem 10, and after scouting out sites in Providence
(where the school is) we were ready to work. I was lucky in having
a student, Levi, with fantastic video skills: he was the one
who filmed it, edited it and added in the music and voices, not
to mention the subtitles. Another student, also not in the Latin
Literature class, joined as Catullus' friend.
It took us about a week to film
the video, going around Providence and finally ending up in my
attic, where we did the indoor scenes. Because the students not
in the class had that period free, we were able to get everyone
together at the same time. We filmed over several days, which
gave a little problem with continuity of clothing! Then we spent
a few hours adding the voice-overs in Latin. I tried to get the
students to do all the voices, but they were embarrassed, so
I wound up doing the main part of the text. After that, Levi
and I spent another few hours putting the music, subtitles (in
English) and rearranging some of the scenes. Levi had all the
equipment to put the video on computer and then work with the
digitized pictures.
I really enjoyed doing this,
and the students loved it. We had a grand opening at school,
where we gave all the guests black ties (cut out of construction
paper) to wear and we served fruit and nuts. This year I would
like to film Horace's poem about the boor, but I'm not sure I
could find another video genius, as Levi is now in college.
