NEW LITERACIES AND THE CCSS
The Common Core State Standards recognize that to thrive in the newly wired world,
students need to master new ways of reading and writing..
Example: Analyzing editing in North by Northwest (Alfred Hitchcock, 1959)
Each time an edit occurs (when one shot switches to another), they clap
their hands.
The students' claps become closer and closer together, and it becomes
evident that as the scene picks up in intensity, Hitchcock and his film
editor have also picked up the pace of the cuts.
NORTH BY NORTHWEST (ALFRED HITCHCOCK, 1959)
HTTP://YOUTU.BE/M5D1AENB2BC
CLOSE READING PROMPTS
1. GIVE STUDENTS PRACTICE READING SCREEN-BASED TEXTS
Relevant Common Core Standards:
Reading Standards for Literature, Integration of Knowledge and Ideas,
Standard 7, Grade 7. Compare and contrast a written story, drama, or poem to its
audio, filmed, staged, or multimedia version, analyzing the effects of techniques
unique to each medium (for example, lighting, sound, color, or camera focus and
angles in a film).
Reading Standards for Informational Text, Integration of Knowledge and
Ideas, Standard 7, Grades 11–12. Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages
of using different mediums (for example, print or digital text, video, multimedia) to
present a particular topic or idea.
Example: Show the first few minutes of Alice in Wonderland, Easy A, The Hunger
Games, or Food, Inc. without providing any introductory comments. Then students
break into small groups, and each group is provided with a description of a film
element to examine in the segment.
FOOD, INC. AS ADAPTATION OF OMNIVORE’S DILEMMA
PRE-ASSESSMENT FOR FILM UNITS
1. Watch short clips from a variety of films, such as The Color Purple (Spielberg, 1985), Do the
Right Thing (Spike Lee, 1989), or Clueless (Amy Heckerling, 1995).
2. Have students take out 2 blank pieces of paper and label one as “Notes” and the second as
“Response”
3. Play a clip one time, giving students only enough background of the film so that they can
understand its context. Direct them to watch carefully without writing.
4. Play the clip a second time, asking students to take notes on “whatever the director is doing to
create meaning or to create a feeling.” Prompt them to consider the music, lighting, and what
the camera does or shows.
5. Then ask them to take their second sheet of paper to respond to the prompt, “What effect is the
director of the film trying to achieve or create within the clip? How does he or she achieve or
create this effect?” Direct them to write a topic sentence and to include support for it.
6. Do the Right Thing Clip: http://youtu.be/ZUbvT6YKPzk
DO THE RIGHT THING
HELP STUDENTS UNDERSTAND FILM TERMS
1. To understand how a camera works, they will manipulate a paper camera to gain
a kinesthetic context for film terms
2. Roll a sheet of construction paper into a tube and hold it up to the eye like a
telescope. Then manipulate it as if it were a real camera.
a) To get a long shot, students will have to unroll the pages to create a large lens
to get a shot of the whole body.
b) They must decrease the size of the lens to get a medium shot (from the waist
up)
c) To get a close up shot (the face) they must decrease the size even further
d) To get an extreme close up (one aspect like an eye), they must roll the paper
even tighter.
e) They can demonstrate a pan by turning the head from left to right, and a low
angle by sitting on the floor and “filming” a clock on the wall, etc.
f) Students should talk about the effects these “shots” provide.
WORK WITH FILM TERMS: ADVANCED INQUIRIES
1. Students will close read a short clip from a film, such as Meet Joe Black or
Selma: http://youtu.be/zvYZoqFCX_8 .
2. View with the sound off once and respond to the text by noting which shots the
director uses using a graphic organizer
3. Ask students to generate three questions that they would like to ask the director if
he were in the class and share in small groups.
4. Discuss the hints the director gives in the scene and then ask students to watch
the scene again with the sound on. Again students should take notes, this time
noting how sound (both diegetic and nondiegetic) is used to enhance the scene.
5. Students should think-pair-share about the use of sound and editing (fading out
to a black scene and then fading in again slowly).
6. Then students should craft an analytical statement about the scene.
MEET JOE BLACK
2. GIVE STUDENTS PRACTICE IN DIGITAL WRITING
Relevant Common Core Standard:
Reading Standards, Craft and Structure, Standard 5, Grade 8. Compare and
contrast the structure of two or more texts and analyze how the differing structure
of each text contributes to its meaning and style.
Example: A Digital Narrative assignment will require students to contrast photographs
and interviews and analyze how they contribute to the immigrant story they and
their family members relate (see packet).
3. GIVE STUDENTS PRACTICE IN COLLABORATIVE WRITING
Relevant Common Core Standard:
Writing Standards, Production and Distribution of Writing, Standard 6,
Grade 8. Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing
and present the relationships between information and ideas efficiently as well as
to interact and collaborate with others.
Example: One classroom, for example, may provide raw video footage that students
have shot related to an assigned topic. Another classroom half a world away may
then take that raw footage and edit it into a meaningful video.
4. GIVE STUDENTS PRACTICE WORKING WITH INFORMATIONAL TEXTS
Relevant Common Core Standard:
Reading Standards for Informational Text, Integration of Knowledge and
Ideas, Standard 7, Grades 11–12. Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of
information presented in different media or formats (for example, visually,
quantitatively) as well as in words in order to address a question or solve a
problem.
Example: Students can critically view documentary video on sites such as the Library
of Congress or National Geographic that provide multiple viewpoints on a topic to
answer a question about history or science. See also New Deal videos such as
The River: http://youtu.be/nVapYrkT0rQ
THE RIVER (1938, PARE LORENTZ)
WORKING WITH FILM ADAPTATIONS
CCSS Explicitly Addressed:
7th grade: CC.7.R.L.7 Integration of Knowledge and Ideas: Compare and contrast a
written story, drama, or poem to its audio, filmed, staged, or multimedia version,
analyzing the effects of techniques unique to each medium (e.g., lighting, sound,
color, or camera focus and angles in a film).
8th grade: CC.8.R.L.7 Integration of Knowledge and Ideas: Analyze the extent to
which a filmed or live production of a story or drama stays faithful to or departs
from the text or script, evaluating the choices made by the director or actors.
CC.9-10.R.I.7 Integration of Knowledge and Ideas: Analyze various accounts of a
subject told in different mediums (e.g., a person’s life story in both print and
multimedia), determining which details are emphasized in each account.
ADAPTATION DEFINITION
An interpretation, involving at least one person’s reading of a text, choices about what
elements to transfer, and decisions about how to actualize these elements in a
medium of image and sound.
Because it is such a popular approach to film-making (and a category for the
Academy Awards) film adaptations deserve study not only because of their
quantity but also because of their quality.
1. The Fidelity Issue
2. Classifying Adaptations
3. Advanced Inquiries
http://youtu.be/PbA63a7H0bo
http://youtu.be/lz5JefXTYP0
THE HUNGER GAMES (DIR. GARY ROSS, 2012)
EASY A (DIR. WILL GLUCK, 2010)
TURNING FILM GENRES INTO WRITING
CCSS:
CC.7.SL.2 Comprehension and Collaboration: Analyze the main ideas and supporting
details presented in diverse media and formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) and
explain how the ideas clarify a topic, text, or issue under study.
CC.8.SL.2 Comprehension and Collaboration: Analyze the purpose of information
presented in diverse media and formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) and
evaluate the motives (e.g., social, commercial, political) behind its presentation.
CC.11-12.R.ST.7 Integration of Knowledge and Ideas: Integrate and evaluate multiple
sources of information presented in diverse formats and media (e.g., quantitative data,
video, multimedia) in order to address a question or solve a problem.
CC.11-12.SL.2 Comprehension and Collaboration: Integrate multiple sources of information
presented in diverse formats and media (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) in order to
make informed decisions and solve problems, evaluating the credibility and accuracy
of each source and noting any discrepancies among the data.
CONTEXT:
This activity is meant to introduce the idea of genres, a seemingly difficult concept
that students actually understand more than they know.
This activity will serve as grounding for writing about film (including reviews and
evaluations), but also serves as a stepping off place for reading and writing
genres from memoir to editorials.
Students from elementary through college should benefit from this activity. Please
see Heather Lattimer’s Thinking Through Genre: Units of Study in Reading and
Writing Workshops, Grades 4-12 for reading and writing units that are applicable
in a variety of classes with a variety of age groups.
PROCEDURES:
1. Think of favorite movie and consider where it would be placed on Netflix (the
genre).
2. Then individually or in groups, outline characteristics of the film’s genre (s)
a) What is the setting (time and place) of the film like?
b) What is the plot like? Is there a happy ending? Is there an indication that
a sequel might be possible? Are there recurring storylines?
c) What are the characters like? Are there stock characters, a character
type that requires no development? Are characters well-developed? Is the
movie more driven by plot?
d) What kind of special effects are there in the movie? What purpose do
they serve?
e) How does cinematography contribute to the film and its content?
TURNING ANALYSIS INTO WRITING
Once students have determined the movie category's/genre's characteristics (and
deviations from them), they can write a synopsis that demonstrates they have
come to an understanding about what viewers expect when they watch a movie in
the film’s category/genre. They can then think through the following questions to
define both purposes behind and consequences of genres:
1. How well received would a film be if it deviated too greatly from those
expectations? For example, how would audience members react if they went to a
movie billed as a comedy, and the film did not have a happy ending?
2. How important are audience expectations? How much should writers consider their
audience(s), when they are beginning to write?
From here students can analyze other genres and apply what they learn in their own
editorials (arguments), memoirs (narratives), or feature articles (expository
writing)