Our Story
In 2010, founder Elizabeth Yarnell’s son was in second grade at a magnet school for the Gifted and Talented in downtown Denver. The school had received a StART Grant (Science, Technology, Art Integration), from Colorado Creative Industries and Elizabeth, along with another parent volunteer who was a professor of film, was tasked to administer grant funding in a way that would integrate science, art and technology into the curriculum at the school. Elizabeth’s thirty years of experience in the film and video industry and as a multimedia instructional designer made her a perfect fit for this role.
She and the professor ran the program for three years at this school, designing instruction to take every K-5 student in the school through a moviemaking project that was integrated in with their curriculum. Check out some of the fun projects students worked on:
- Kindergarteners went wild making stop motion animation films about horses and penguins while studying animals.
- First-graders studying earth history traveled back in time to make stop motion animations about the Cretaceous period and the end of the dinosaurs.
- Second-graders turned into meteorologists while studying extreme weather in their science class and shot live-action films about hurricanes and tornadoes using green screen technology to put themselves into the action.
- Third-graders learning state history produced documentary movies about the Unsinkable Molly Brown and Alfred Packer as famous Coloradoans.
- Fourth-graders went out of this world with documentaries about Haley’s Comet and the rings of Saturn during their outer space science curriculum.
- Fifth-graders became archaeologists studying King Tut’s tomb through a live-action movie while studying ancient Egypt.
By 2014, we wanted to bring these fantastic programs to kids not lucky enough to attend that one elementary school. We expanded into more than two dozen schools.
Where Are We Now?
For the first ten years of Digistars, we offered in-school residences, week-long summer camps, day-long vacation camps and after-school enrichment programs, all delivered by our highly-trained staff of film students and professional filmmakers.
In late 2019, Digistars transitioned to put all programming online to make it more accessible and affordable for kids, parents and teachers everywhere.
Now, Digistars Make-A-Movie Workshop offers a suite of moviemaking programs to meet the needs of teachers, parents, students, and kids who want to learn how to tell stories through moving pictures. Check out our list of full programs here.