Collect and analyze data on books | Be a Hollywood Producer | 6-8, 9-10, 11-12
Student Objective
Students will be able to:
1. Determine which book from class should be made into a movie, by gathering and comparing information through the internet about the profitability and customer sentiment of each book like a Hollywood Producer would
Instructions
Materials Needed:
- At least 3 books as options available to students that have been read in class already
- A computer for each student
- A google drive account for each student
- Students will be working within Google Docs
- These already-made resources (both are in the same document):
Step 1: Own It – “What book would you like to see turned into a movie?”
- Think-Pair-Share:
- Question: “What book would you like to see turned into a movie, and why? Name which actors you would want to play 2 of your favorite characters?”
Step 2: Learn It – Introduce Steps a Hollywood Producer Takes to Choose a Book for a Movie
Evaluating Book-to-movie ideas as a Hollywood Producer:
- Share with them the Book-to-Movie Rubric for evaluating whether a book should be turned into a movie
- “In order for a Hollywood Producer to decide whether to turn a book into a movie, they consider the following questions:
- Has this book been converted into a movie in the past?
- Was the movie profitable?
- How much did the movie cost?
- How much did the movie bring in for revenue?
- How was the movie received by critics and the general audience?
- How was it received by critics?
- How was it received by the general audience?
- How many books have been sold?
- How was the book received?
- What have the critics decided about it?
- What did readers say about it?
- Has the book won any awards?
- Does the book’s story align with the current audience’s appetite?”
Evaluating the sources that inform the Evaluation of Book-to-Movie ideas:
- “As a producer, you have to make the decision whether to convert a book to a movie. When you’re collecting your data, you have to also evaluate the validity and reliability of the source of your data.”
- Introduce the Internet Source Evaluation Organizer
- “You will also fill this organizer out as you collect information to answer the questions in your Book-to-Movie Rubric
Step 3: Students Join Groups and Decide on which 2 books they want to evaluate
- Assign students to groups of 3 or 4
- Have students allocate responsibility:
- to gather information for specific factors in the Book-to-Movie Rubric
- to fill in evaluation of the sources they used in the Internet Source Evaluation Organizer
- Provide students an initial set of sources for particular pieces of information:
- Movie Box Office Information (Production Budget, Domestic Box Office Revenue)
- www.imdb.com
- https://m.the-numbers.com/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
- www.youtube.com
- Search for Movie Titles
- www.imdb.com
- https://m.the-numbers.com/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
- www.youtube.com
- Movie Ratings – Critical Response and Audience Response
- www.imdb.com
- www.rottentomatoes.com
- https://www.rogerebert.com/
- Book Reviews and Awards Won
- www.amazon.com
- www.wikipedia.com
- ww.goodreads.com
- https://www.bookbrowse.com/
- https://www.bookbrowse.com/awards/
- Number of Copies Sold
- Amazon Rankings (how to find)
- Google Search
- General Attitudes of Americans
- look through Google Trends:
- https://trends.google.com/trends/?geo=US
- example:
- https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?geo=US&q=mystery%20crime,comedy
- look through Google Trends:
- Movie Box Office Information (Production Budget, Domestic Box Office Revenue)
- Have the students deliberate and select which 2 books they want to evaluate and determine whether they would convert one or none of the books to movies
Step 4: Students Do Their Research and Fill Organizers
- Have students work within their groups to fill out their organizers
- Have students make copies of the Rubric and Organizer google document
- Have students submit copy/paste the links of their google doc organizers to your Central Organizer of Student-Group Links
Step 5: Have students Write a Brief that includes Decision of Which Book, if any, will be Made into a Movie
- Once students have filled in their information, have them write a report with the following content in a google doc (or however teacher prefers):
- introduction and Background: The Objective/Task
- Methodology: How Books were Evaluated
- Results: Rubrics and Organizers Completed and Explained
- Conclusion: Which Book was selected, if any? Why?
- Limitation and Questions: Reliability of Information Collected
Justification
In this activity, students determine which book from class should be made into a movie, by gathering and comparing evidence through the internet about the profitability and customer sentiment of each book like a Hollywood Producer would. They will source their evidence and evaluate their evidence's validity, ultimately making a claim as to which book should be made into a movie.