“More” Comprehension Strategies: Using Short Film and Critical Thinking
Opportunities to Engage Students in Effective Textual Analysis
Grade Level: ELA 8
Class Time: 60 minutes
Main Language Arts: View, Speak, Listen
Text Study Requirements: Multimedia Text: Short Films
Materials: “More” by Mark Osborne—available on iTunes, a way to project the
video with sound, whiteboard and markers, graphic organizer for notes.
Students will need something to write with.
Purpose of Lesson: Students will acknowledge and share initial perspectives
about short films, experience this unique multimedia text form, and come to
understand these texts and text creators. Students will learn useful
comprehension strategies to apply to short films and other texts.
Curricular Outcomes:
1.2.2: exchange ideas and opinions to clarify understanding and to broaden
personal perspectives
2.1.3: enhance understanding by paraphrasing main ideas and supporting
details, and by rereading and discussing relevant passages
2.2.1: experience oral, print and other media texts from a variety of cultural
traditions and genres
2.2.5: make connections between biographical information about authors,
illustrators, storytellers and filmmakers and their texts
Overarching Question: What is important when beginning to study a new text?
The Lesson
Anticipatory Set (10 minutes):
Inform students that today they will be studying a short film. Tell them to go ahead
and talk with someone next to them for a moment about that. Then ask them to
share their initial thoughts about short films. (Do they know what that means?
Have they seen any? Where? Are they any good? Have they seen bad ones? –
YouTube?) Short films are films that are too short to be considered a feature film.
Something you would refuse to go to the theatre and watch because it’s too short to
be worth the money—typically considered 40 minutes or less, though many are
under 20 minutes, and many more are under 10 minutes in length.
Ask them what they would expect from a short film they are going to study in class.
The Genre and Author (15 minutes):
Pass out the Graphic Organizer. Let students know they can jot information on the
back of the page as well.
Ask if any students know the term “stop-motion animation.” Allow them to give the
explanation or inform them that it is a film technique where someone creates a
figure, takes a picture, moves the figure a tiny bit, takes another picture, moves it
again, takes another picture, etc. and then plays the photos back at high speed to
create the illusion of the figure moving on its own. Claymation, such as “Wallace and
Gromit” but also features like A Nightmare Before Christmas.
To give you an appreciation for the work that goes into this, iMovie plays back at 30
frames per second, and you might be able to set a single photo to take up 3 frames.
That means for every second of movie, you need 10 photos. For every 30 seconds of
movie, you need 300 photos. The film I am going to show you today is over 5
minutes of animation. That’s more than 3000 photographs, in addition to the time
to write the story, create the figures and the setting, edit, add music, etc. etc. This is
not an easy process to create a 6 ½ minute film.
Ask if anyone has heard of Kung Fu Panda. (Of course they have) What did they
think of it? Is it a film they’d expect to watch in grade 8? Why or why not? What
about SpongeBob SquarePants? ***This info should be added to their graphic
organizer once they know the director’s name.
Ask if they know what these two movies (and tv show) have in common. Entertain
some guesses. Then ask if anyone has heard of a director named Mark Osborne.
Mark Osborne was heavily involved in the production of both of these productions.
He got his start by studying Foundation Art at Pratt Institute in New York before
receiving his Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Experimental Animation from
the California Institute of the Arts in June 1992. His thesis film, Greener, won
numerous awards and screened at more than 40 film festival worldwide.
He is a filmmaker who has been nominated for two Academy Awards (The Oscars),
including one for Best Animated Feature in 2008 for Kung Fu Panda, the second was
for a short film entitled, “MORE” which we will be watching today. So he knows
what he is doing.
Now what are your expectations? Have they changed? Why or why not?
First Viewing (15 minutes):
Inform students that the only thing they should do as they watch the film is to sit
back and try to enjoy it. They can think about their likes and dislikes. Let them
know we will watch it right through the end credits and they can see all the different
jobs needed to create just a 6-minute film.
Ask students not to talk during or after the film, but to simply absorb it on their own.
Watch film.
Ask students remain quiet. Tell them to think about their impressions of the film
and to write those down under the heading “first viewing.”
Have them share their thoughts with the class. Point out whether or not everyone
agreed, had different ways to say the same thing, what individuals chose to focus on.
Write the thoughts down on the board under a heading of “First Viewing.”
Let them know that it is important to first think for themselves when studying a
text. Their opinions matter. Their ideas matter. And if they turn to someone else
first, whether it’s a friend, teacher, or the Internet, they rob themselves of the
opportunity to think for themselves. They should choose to study a text, rather than
simply ask someone else what it might be about.
On the Graphic Organizer, beside the #1, under the strategies section, have them
write, “Think for yourself first.”
Mention that the strategies we will be learning about today are applicable to any
text, in school or out of school. Let them know that the list we create today is not a
complete list, but simply some available strategies. ***As students ask questions
about the text, have them jot down beside #4 Ask Questions. Let them know they
should focus on finding answers to these questions the next time they watch the
film.
Ask students if they feel capable of writing an essay right now based on the film. If
they did, how solid do they think their ideas would be? Could they take a given
topic, write a thesis, and come up with ideas and support from the film? How many
of them would try? How would they do?
Write down strategy #2: Read a text at least twice, the more the better. Ask
students if they mind if we watch the film again.
Second Viewing (15 minutes):
Watch the film again.
Ask students to think about what the message of the film might be and to jot their
answers down on the graphic organizer under “second viewing.” What is the text
creator trying to get across to you? What is the theme? What is the main idea?
Provide time to think and write. Remind them that they should think first for
themselves.
Ask students to share their ideas. Write their thoughts on the board under the
heading of “Second Viewing.” Students should also write these down. Encourage
discussion. Directly ask another students what he/she thinks about what the
previous student said. Repeat several times, and for several of their ideas.
Have them write down strategy #3: “Talk with others about the text.”
Closure and Assessment (5 minutes):
Tell students to look back at their list of 4 strategies for studying texts. Ask them to
think of which 2 of the 4 they think are the most important and to think of why.
Have them share with the class their thoughts and to defend with a reason.