Thursday, September 30, 2010
Lesson Plan: Analyzing the Montage
Introduction: As a warm up activity, I would break the class off into groups and have them come up with examples when film imparted information upon the audience without necessarly using soloquoy, monolouge, or diolouge.
Processing Intro: After 5-10 min of brainstorming, we have the class volunteer some of these examples and write them down on the board. If possible, we link multiple examples of montages the class presents and ask class what makes these examples related. If no examples are articulated, then we go into today's lesson of montages.
Intro to movie clip: In the 1980's, many film makers spliced together various short shots and images to portray a long period of time in a short time span on film. This was called the montage. These images intended to show events that would take a long time (i.e. training or conditioning)and convey a general message rather than articulate the full struggle. Montages also served to remind the audience of the events that already happened in the film while alluding to the eventual climatic finish. One of the more famous montages comes from the Sylvester Stallone film "Rocky".
Cue Film Clip:
Open Forum after clip: Start simple with asking basic images seen during the clip on one side of a white/chalk board. Then on the other side of the board have students describe what they learned about the story and character from watching the clip. If we don't get an active flow of comments from the class, break off the class into groups again and then retry with each group saying what they discussed.
Tell the class that I'm going to reply the clip once more. This time around, note not only what the montage tells us but also how it tells us.
Reply Clip.
Open class discussion: methods of the montage and how it articulates story. We write the results of the discussion in the middle of the board (cleverly in between the two previously created lists).
Note: be sure that the following aspects of the montage are discussed and be made to understood:
- Editing (Placement of clips, duration of any given shot)
- Re occuring sequences (Seeing multiple instances of push ups, running, and other elements)
- Music (Crescendoing score, how the music syncs up with the mood)
- Camera Shots (When is a close up used, when is a far shot used, how does perspective aid in sympathy and characterization)
The tools of analyzing a montage and how a director puts it together should now be at the student's hands. However, one must practice with the tools before feeling properly able to use them. So, we show another montage scene and ask the students to think about the images, the story, and how the director articulates it.
Show clip from Wet Hot American Summer
After clip, we get a healthy discussion going again about the clip, it's scenic elements, directoral choices, images, and story. Make sure to get students to draw parallels from Rocky and Wet Hot American Summer montages.
Processing Intro: After 5-10 min of brainstorming, we have the class volunteer some of these examples and write them down on the board. If possible, we link multiple examples of montages the class presents and ask class what makes these examples related. If no examples are articulated, then we go into today's lesson of montages.
Intro to movie clip: In the 1980's, many film makers spliced together various short shots and images to portray a long period of time in a short time span on film. This was called the montage. These images intended to show events that would take a long time (i.e. training or conditioning)and convey a general message rather than articulate the full struggle. Montages also served to remind the audience of the events that already happened in the film while alluding to the eventual climatic finish. One of the more famous montages comes from the Sylvester Stallone film "Rocky".
Cue Film Clip:
Open Forum after clip: Start simple with asking basic images seen during the clip on one side of a white/chalk board. Then on the other side of the board have students describe what they learned about the story and character from watching the clip. If we don't get an active flow of comments from the class, break off the class into groups again and then retry with each group saying what they discussed.
Tell the class that I'm going to reply the clip once more. This time around, note not only what the montage tells us but also how it tells us.
Reply Clip.
Open class discussion: methods of the montage and how it articulates story. We write the results of the discussion in the middle of the board (cleverly in between the two previously created lists).
Note: be sure that the following aspects of the montage are discussed and be made to understood:
- Editing (Placement of clips, duration of any given shot)
- Re occuring sequences (Seeing multiple instances of push ups, running, and other elements)
- Music (Crescendoing score, how the music syncs up with the mood)
- Camera Shots (When is a close up used, when is a far shot used, how does perspective aid in sympathy and characterization)
The tools of analyzing a montage and how a director puts it together should now be at the student's hands. However, one must practice with the tools before feeling properly able to use them. So, we show another montage scene and ask the students to think about the images, the story, and how the director articulates it.
Show clip from Wet Hot American Summer
After clip, we get a healthy discussion going again about the clip, it's scenic elements, directoral choices, images, and story. Make sure to get students to draw parallels from Rocky and Wet Hot American Summer montages.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Breaking down camera work with Annotation
In creating any piece of entertainment, the medium from which it is created plays a large part in establishing character, story, motiff, and setting. Here we can see it play in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Enjoy!
http://ant.umn.edu/vav.php?pid=61481094848955
http://ant.umn.edu/vav.php?pid=61481094848955
Thursday, September 16, 2010
First blog post for the True Believers!
Welcome all to my blog! Now I don't have a focus right now or a drive, but I am logging nonetheless. Primarly, this blog will be contain the requirements for CI 5472 Teaching Television, Film, and Media studies. So to kick it off, I start with a vlog! Enjoy!
Hyperlink to NPH: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJf9QQkZwls
Hyperlink to The Guild: www.watchtheguild.com
Hyperlink to NPH: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJf9QQkZwls
Hyperlink to The Guild: www.watchtheguild.com
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