Picture this…you’re approaching the door to your house and you hear a sound and you become mildly concerned. You reach to open the door and find it locked, so you search for your keys. You hear the sound again and become visibly apprehensive. You take a quick glance but cannot see the source of the sound and panic sets in. You eventually unlock the door and make it to the other side relieved that you are safe now.
Now imagine your a filmmaker and have a mere 90 seconds to show tell that story with only one actor, no dialogue, and the entire film has to be shot within 5 feet of the door. The challenge is figuring out how to communicate to the audience using a variety of shots with no dialogue. I threw that challenge out to elementary teachers and here’s one fifth-grade student in Todd Jacobson’s class take on “The Door Scene,” shot and edited on her iPad: