Activities
After a brief introduction to the unit, I will explain the reasons that foreign films are such an integral part of this unit and my expectations that all of my students will try to be culturally sensitive before making any remarks in class. I will also explain that as the unit progresses, we will be developing an understanding of narratology, the storytelling traditions from other cultures, and how to analyze posters and films using film and art terminology. Students will then watch Into the West while eating popcorn that will add to the theater atmosphere. Most of the film will be watched the first day. Following the conclusion of the film the next class period, students will be broken up into small groups of no more than 4 to discuss the types of narratives that exist. Each group will select a writer and a spokesman. The teams will give examples that will be written on the board until all have been given and the differences discussed. Included will be myths, novels and short stories, folk tales, fairy tales, fables, legends, epics, romances (of the medieval type), satires, comics books, graphic novels and Manga. These all share an interlocking series of events as told by a storyteller (the narrator). Discussion about Into the West will be initiated by asking students what type of narrative they consider the film to be, providing examples or clues from the film. Stasis will be discussed and they will be asked what event changes the equilibrium of the story (the mother's death). After the introduction of the term hinge function, students can provide film examples of actions that hinge or depend on the last for development. More terms will evolve naturally out of the discussion of the film.
After the discussion of the film Into the West, small groups will be formed again and the students will list the functions for movie posters. The students can use the displayed posters for reference. The responses will be put on the board. Then this exercise will be repeated to determine the purposes of movie trailers or previews. Students will then compare the two lists for commonalities and differences which can be put on the board in a Venn diagram (two ovals of traits of each that list the similarities in the overlapped section). After reviewing the elements of art and principles of design to analyze a movie poster hung in the room, I will show the movie posters for Into the West. Students, using appropriate art vocabulary, will discuss how successful each poster is in its mission to seduce viewers. Those qualities will be discussed and written on the board. After watching the trailer for Into the West, we will discuss if the trailer portrays the film accurately, the tone or style of the film, and if the viewer can determine its narrative style and genre just from its viewing.
The trailer for The Secret of Roan Inish and the posters for it will be shown and analyzed. For each poster shown, students can hold up a red, yellow or green card indicating their degree of acceptance of each. In the discussion of previews and posters, the relation of stillness and movement can be explored. From early on in the unit, the discussions of films and posters will be intertwined and students will be urged to concentrate on the elements of the story.
The power point that highlights the evolution of movie posters will be shown. Included will be various styles of posters for the same film created for openings in different countries. Shrek was released in over of 50 countries and it will be interesting to compare and contrast some of its posters. Even though we can not read most of them, the balance of graphics and animated character images in the compositions should generate some lively conversations. The posters from Poland will be highlighted, as will as the Soviet examples because of their striking graphic traditions. The impact of Disney Studios and Mickey Mouse's evolution of drawing styles will be examined also.
The students will see a Hollywood version of completing a trailer when shown the scene from The Holiday in which Cameron Diaz's character edits a trailer that her company is designing for a Christmas opening. She comments about changing the title to a happy red versus a Martin Scorsese (blood) red30 and that can lead into a discussion involving color symbolism.
After discussion about different genres, trailers representing various genres will be shown. Students will match the trailers and the genres. Trailers will be shown for westerns, comedies, musicals, mysteries, horror films, action films, romances, and others. They can then analyze the details of the trailers to learn more about each genre. Posters can be shown of each and discussed. Exit cards can be used at the end of class to keep the students focused.
Foreign film trailers and their accompanying posters from Japan, China, Africa, Iran and the United States will be viewed and discussed, one country at a time. The storytelling traditions of each country will be explored, from the griots who preserve the oral storytelling traditions and history in Africa to the Irish travelers who tell stories around a campfire. In small groups, students will discover differences and commonalities between the films of each country, and at the end, they will compare the films from all the countries discussed.
Hollywood film trailers will also be explored. Finding the more recent trailers on the internet is easy. The Harry Potter film trailers and posters will be shown in order and students will answer questions about any tone and style changes that the series undertakes as the content of the books and subsequently the films become darker. Does having a new director change the looks of the films and trailers? The trailers and posters for Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas and Corpse Bride will also be examined for tone and compared to the Harry Potter series. Cool, brooding blues are used in Tim Burton's creations and in the Harry Potter series for a chilling effect.
After the discussion on poster terminology, a short quiz will be given. A quiz will also follow the discussion of film terms. Students will have a couple of homework assignments. The first will be the students' written description of a film scene that has had an indelible impact on them. It can be an iconic cinematic film moment or one that is very personal and not common with others' experiences. They will also have the choice of researching and writing about an artist who has worked in the medium of posters and/or worked creating movie posters, or a distinct period of national styles that has affected the development of poster art. For extra credit, students can bring in recommendations for foreign films trailers that we can watch in class. If their families are from another country, they may have some great suggestions or favorites'
Different media and techniques will be explored after students see my demonstrations using colored pencils, watercolors and acrylics. Students will select a single letter like a T or an S and a magazine photo of an interesting human eye. After each demonstration, they will draw a human eye and a letter on two separate 3" x 3" pieces of drawing paper using the medium that was just shown. These drawings will be discussed along with the advantages and disadvantages of each medium used.
Students will make a list of films for which they would like to create a poster. After some research, they will narrow that down to their final choice. A minimum of ten thumbnail sketches or ideas for their posters will be created by each student. Two of them must be of abstract ideas and one of two key moments from the film that they have selected. The students will develop their best thumbnail or combination of thumbnails into their poster design, working out the details of composition and placement of graphics. They need to carefully choose words that have punch and should ideally be representative of the film.
Using everything that they have learned, students will create their individual final posters. They will sign a "contract" supposedly from a film studio or independent producer. The progress and visual look of the posters will be critiqued by the class after the posters have been sketched out and also at completion. The students will also critique their own posters using a self reflection sheet. Invitations that feature selected student poster designs will invite everyone to view the finished posters on display in an art show in the school library. Next to each poster will be an accompanying film synopsis that the artists will have written. After the culminating activity of the art show, students will fill out an evaluation of the whole unit. The following are three lesson plans that have been developed from the preceding activities.
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