Crash Ballet is a series of contests focused on having participants remix public domain media into innovative new versions, often amusing. The latest installment (Crash Ballet 3) is focused on taking stills from a 1953 Encyclopedia Brittanica filmstrip and producing a remix.
I love the idea, and working with public domain or open media takes this overboard for me. Projects like this, particularly in the classroom, have the potential for demonstrating how creative culture can be fostered by building on ideas and artefacts from the past. While I am not sure if Crash Ballet in itself is classroom appropriate (there are a couple of iffy remixes), the concept is good and could easily be replicated by choosing (or having students choose) elements from the Internet Archive or the Creative Commons (for instance), and implementing similar guidelines for production.
Great idea. I like the mix of creativity and technology skills. It would also be pretty easy to align it to standards for English, Music and Art. You could start by having the students break down “Joe Enjoys Yelling” by story elements (plot, character, etc) and then have them create their own story using similar elements. It’d be a fun way to do it.