Be the producer

This lesson came from reading a poem called "The Skater of Ghost Lake" by William Rose Benet, but it could certainly be adapted to a short story or a novel. Although it would be fun to do the actual production, time is always at a premium, and the proper technology is not necessarily available. I have my students do just the planning and storyboarding to create a short film.
The directions -- Using specific references from the poem to explain your choices, describe how you would present the poem as a short film. Would you recommend color or black and white, sound or silent film? Who would be your actor and actresses? How would you accomplish the special effects? What would you choose as music?

The storyboard -- Describe each change in action by saying whether the camera view will be an extreme closeup (XCU), a closeup (CU), a middle shot (MS), a long shot (LS), or an extreme long shot (XLS). How will you create and build the drama? What visual imagery is essential for conveying the various details of the poem? How will you keep the action moving? In what way will you maintain the mystery surrounding the poem?

I don't have the results yet, but one girl believes she can use textual support to have the main characters be field mice pursued by an owl. She intends to use cartoons.
One boy believes the characters to be ghosts. I am uncertain of his plans for the movie, but he is a rock drummer, so I can predict his choice of music.

If this were adapted to a long work, the film could serve as the "trailer" for a longer movie. It would have to hit the highlights and set the tone and introduce the characters without revealing all. I particularly like the fact that the movie won't actually be made.