Movie writing - a project lesson for teenagers

I did this today with two different classes of intermediate teenagers in summer school. The students produced stories ranging from the surreal to the surprisingly complex. A good degree of choice and flexibility means that the students can really let their imaginations run away with them.

• Lead in by talking about movies and get a feel for which types of movies your students like.
• Brainstorm vocabulary related to that type of movie. I went for horror so recapped some different types of horror baddies (zombies, vampires, werewolves...).
• Place the students into groups of 3-4 and have each group design one evil character and one good character, including name, picture, and a short description plus details of any special powers.
• Collect the characters, mix them up, and let each group choose a good guy and a bad guy (that they did not design).
• Let each group choose a location from a set of 'cards' (aeroplane, school, hospital, beach...)
• Each group now writes the storyboard of what happens when the good guy meets the bad guy in the location they have chosen. What happens? Who wins and how? Is it a happy ending?
• Each group presents their story to the class and then students vote on their favourite.

Of course this format can be adapted in any number of ways to account for the students' tastes. What would you do differently?