Using film to support reading and writing
Writers develop their ideas about content, structure and style of writing from viewing, reading and talking with others.
The following ideas are taken from Simon Wrigley's workshops for teachers in both Primary and Secondary schools. They grow out of work in Buckinghamshire and NATE, 2009-2014. They explore the use of short films and moving image extracts – narrative, informative, persuasive - to stimulate children's thinking and strengthen their observation, reading and composition skills. Paper-based and moving image texts may be juxtaposed so that their similarities and differences of function and form can be more clearly understood.
All of the following film extracts referred to can be found on YouTube - just click on the links.
1. Naughty Corner
'Naughty Corner': cloze procedure for transcript from ‘Frozen Planet’ David Attenborough 2011 Click on the red writing for link to 1 min 49 sec clip.
This exercise was done to widen children's vocabulary and expression, as well as to think about the importance of the accompanying image, sound and music. This exercise could be used for prediction, or sequencing. Children can produce their own commentary to accompany the visual sequence when it is replayed with the sound off. Alternatively, children can be asked to mime the actions to David Attenborough's commentary - which can be replayed with the images blanked out.
Words/phrases to be added: challenge, detect, discipline, easy, fearsome, in tow, however, moment, not an option, stealthiest.
Having led her cubs to the edge of the ice, the mother’s next __________ is to catch a seal.
Not easy with these two _________.
Her prey, beneath the ice, can _________ the slightest vibrations – especially from bears.
And this is not the _____________ of hunting parties.
Leaving her cubs behind, ___________ , is ______________________ : a male bear would eat one in a _______________ .
This is not going to be _________ !
It seems that the cubs already see themselves as ____________ hunters … but they’re still young enough to accept their mother’s _____________.
It’s the naughty corner for you!
2. SAFETY AT SEA
1. First watch the cartoon, ‘The Lighthouse’ (2 mins 35 seconds) and discuss with a partner – what you liked/ what you found puzzling.
2. Before watching again, ask them to watch out for the man’s feelings at different points in the cartoon.
3. Now watch a third time and stop, asking
· What do you think he’s feeling now?
· What’s about to happen?
· What else might happen next?
You might watch again asking children to watch closely and then , in pairs, frame questions for the rest of the class to answer or discuss.
Retell the story in stages, with actions:
1 Hears noise
2 Runs up to turn on light: it breaks.
3 Runs down to get new bulb.
4 Runs up but drops new bulb at the top.
5 Runs down to get last bulb.
6 Runs up, turns on light: it breaks.
7 Runs down, gets lifebelt, throws it into the sea, jumps in.
8 Gets into life belt and meets duck.
9 Hears noise again and realises.
Tell the story of the boy who cried wolf, with the children ‘acting out’ the narrative – in freeze frames or story ‘whoosh’.
Think of a time when someone hears something which they think is one thing, but turns out to be something better – or worse (eg a noise at night – turns out to be a loose gate banging in the wind; a shout – turns out to be someone pretending; a crash – turns out to be …?). See how long they can give clues without revealing the source.
This might lead to writing riddles, descriptions or similes – such as folded paper with the clue on the outside (eg a nest of wriggling worms) – and the picture or answer inside (eg a plate of spaghetti)
3. Fed up with animal cruelty?
Teaching suggestions:
Show pupils the short cartoon: RSPCA – Simon’s Sister’s Dog: ‘Fed Up’(1 min 49 seconds)
On the first viewing just let them watch it. Afterwards ask them to share with a partner their first reactions for a few minutes.
Before the second viewing ask them to look out for anything which they find interesting or puzzling. Ask them to frame two questions: one closed question which could only be answered by watching the cartoon (eg what’s the last thing which the dog manages to eat? What does the dog do to attract the humans’ attention?) , and one open question which touches on the ideas in the film, but could be answered without having seen the film (eg when might generosity be unkind? How else could we persuade people to be kind to animals?).
Challenge the pupils in pairs to come up with another title for the cartoon – differentiating in 1 word, 2 words, 3 words …. 7 words. Explore the play on words in the final shot and invite pairs to suggest other warnings or ‘morals’ of the story.
Arrange class in pairs. Give out 5 or 6 ‘thought-bubbles’ to each pair. Now play the cartoon again, stopping it at any point and asking pairs of pupils to write an appropriate thought-bubble for the dog (1 minute) Share. Play a bit more of the cartoon, stop and ask them for another thought-bubble, this time for one of the humans. Then invite one of them to tell you when to stop the film and challenge the others for a thought-bubble. And so on.
Now display all the dog thought-bubbles in one place, and all the human thought-bubbles in another. Then ask pupils to read them aloud in any given sequence.
Now model how a short description could be written based on one character’s point of view. Invite suggestions related to the purpose: to make the humans sound either uncaring or kind, or to make the dog sound either helpless or very much to blame. Incorporate these, re-wording and refining as you draft and re-read.
Finally, ask pupils to write two short descriptions of the same event – one from the point of view of the dog, the other from the point of view of the humans. You might remind them that the purpose is to make people reconsider their behaviour, or challenge them to write for different audiences.
Now watch RSPCA documentary.
On the first viewing just let them watch it. Afterwards ask them to share with a partner their first reactions for a few minutes.
Ask them what they think the purpose of this film is – and who it might be aimed at – and how they know. Where do your feelings change? Who comes across as kind? Why did the film-makers sometimes use still images and why sometimes moving ones. Which different people are interviewed - and why?
Before the second viewing, ask them to look out for any details which stood out as shocking and any specialist vocabulary and phrasing (formal constructions) they noticed. Give them time to jot some of these down.
Discuss the effect of seeing a dog being petted and cared for, and, at the same time, hearing about how he was abused. What other persuasive techniques does the film-maker use? (eg use of ‘we’ to include audience; reference to ‘a study by Manchester Metropolitan University’ to make the case sound serious.)
Teaching structure so that they can then structure their own persuasive text
Produce a transcript of an extract in two columns - left hand side words, right hand side a still image. Cut up the transcript sheet into sections and challenge the children to reassemble it. It is good to leave blanks - or even ask them to make their own transcription.
(An easy way of managing this with the photocopier is to blank out certain boxes and then ask them what’s missing.)
You might
Based on this, ask the pupils to script their own documentary/PowerPoint about animal cruelty. This is another ‘case study’. This should contain a narrator, pictures and an interview of an animal owner or RSPCA worker.
4. Replay
an 8-minute award-winning animation made by ESMA in 2007
The film tells the story of Lana and Theo who live in an underground bunker. In their world, the towns are deserted and it is impossible to breathe the air …
USING READING QUESTIONS linked to APP to UNDERSTAND A TEXT
We can piece together what life is like for Lana and Theo from a number of ‘clues’ and use these to construct a critical reading of the film, ‘Replay’:
AF2: SELECTED EVENTS IN TEXT
Lana runs home wearing a respirator and passes through an air-lock in order to reach the safety of her underground bunker
and
Lana scavenges a gun, a torch and a tape-player from the outside world
and
Lana tells Theo that it is too dangerous for him to go out alone
AF3: THEREFORE WE INFER THAT, even though it is no longer safe to breathe the air, humans can still use technology to stay alive, as long as they don’t kill each other.
AF4-6: THE WAY THE TEXT IS STRUCTURED
These events are placed at the very start of the film - and the implied dangers are reinforced through contrasting harsh and gentle sound effects and through dialogue - arouses our curiosity and anxiety about what will happen when Theo ventures out alone. The low camera angle and close-ups of Theo’s face (AF5 director’s use of language of film) help us to see things from Theo’s point of view (AF6: writer’s purposes and viewpoints) and sympathise with his frustration at being confined against his will.
AF7: RELATE TEXT TO SOCIAL, CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL TRADITIONS
Late 20th century images and objects - the tape-player, the parched landscape, the telephone wires, the abandoned vehicles, signs in Cyrullic alphabet – remind an early 21st century Western European audience of recent tragedies involving suffering and environmental disaster brought on by wars as well as abuses of nature and science. Equally, the lyrical playing of piano, guitar, harp, the happy sounds of children playing, as well as the simple looping flight of a paper aeroplane, might all be associated with an innocence of bygone times.
The film is told in about 86 short ‘takes’ or sequences, varying in length from 1 second to 50 seconds. There are 4 sections of action divided by fade-outs:
Simon Wrigley
NWP Outreach director
The following ideas are taken from Simon Wrigley's workshops for teachers in both Primary and Secondary schools. They grow out of work in Buckinghamshire and NATE, 2009-2014. They explore the use of short films and moving image extracts – narrative, informative, persuasive - to stimulate children's thinking and strengthen their observation, reading and composition skills. Paper-based and moving image texts may be juxtaposed so that their similarities and differences of function and form can be more clearly understood.
All of the following film extracts referred to can be found on YouTube - just click on the links.
1. Naughty Corner
'Naughty Corner': cloze procedure for transcript from ‘Frozen Planet’ David Attenborough 2011 Click on the red writing for link to 1 min 49 sec clip.
This exercise was done to widen children's vocabulary and expression, as well as to think about the importance of the accompanying image, sound and music. This exercise could be used for prediction, or sequencing. Children can produce their own commentary to accompany the visual sequence when it is replayed with the sound off. Alternatively, children can be asked to mime the actions to David Attenborough's commentary - which can be replayed with the images blanked out.
Words/phrases to be added: challenge, detect, discipline, easy, fearsome, in tow, however, moment, not an option, stealthiest.
Having led her cubs to the edge of the ice, the mother’s next __________ is to catch a seal.
Not easy with these two _________.
Her prey, beneath the ice, can _________ the slightest vibrations – especially from bears.
And this is not the _____________ of hunting parties.
Leaving her cubs behind, ___________ , is ______________________ : a male bear would eat one in a _______________ .
This is not going to be _________ !
It seems that the cubs already see themselves as ____________ hunters … but they’re still young enough to accept their mother’s _____________.
It’s the naughty corner for you!
2. SAFETY AT SEA
1. First watch the cartoon, ‘The Lighthouse’ (2 mins 35 seconds) and discuss with a partner – what you liked/ what you found puzzling.
2. Before watching again, ask them to watch out for the man’s feelings at different points in the cartoon.
3. Now watch a third time and stop, asking
· What do you think he’s feeling now?
· What’s about to happen?
· What else might happen next?
You might watch again asking children to watch closely and then , in pairs, frame questions for the rest of the class to answer or discuss.
Retell the story in stages, with actions:
1 Hears noise
2 Runs up to turn on light: it breaks.
3 Runs down to get new bulb.
4 Runs up but drops new bulb at the top.
5 Runs down to get last bulb.
6 Runs up, turns on light: it breaks.
7 Runs down, gets lifebelt, throws it into the sea, jumps in.
8 Gets into life belt and meets duck.
9 Hears noise again and realises.
Tell the story of the boy who cried wolf, with the children ‘acting out’ the narrative – in freeze frames or story ‘whoosh’.
Think of a time when someone hears something which they think is one thing, but turns out to be something better – or worse (eg a noise at night – turns out to be a loose gate banging in the wind; a shout – turns out to be someone pretending; a crash – turns out to be …?). See how long they can give clues without revealing the source.
This might lead to writing riddles, descriptions or similes – such as folded paper with the clue on the outside (eg a nest of wriggling worms) – and the picture or answer inside (eg a plate of spaghetti)
3. Fed up with animal cruelty?
Teaching suggestions:
Show pupils the short cartoon: RSPCA – Simon’s Sister’s Dog: ‘Fed Up’(1 min 49 seconds)
On the first viewing just let them watch it. Afterwards ask them to share with a partner their first reactions for a few minutes.
Before the second viewing ask them to look out for anything which they find interesting or puzzling. Ask them to frame two questions: one closed question which could only be answered by watching the cartoon (eg what’s the last thing which the dog manages to eat? What does the dog do to attract the humans’ attention?) , and one open question which touches on the ideas in the film, but could be answered without having seen the film (eg when might generosity be unkind? How else could we persuade people to be kind to animals?).
Challenge the pupils in pairs to come up with another title for the cartoon – differentiating in 1 word, 2 words, 3 words …. 7 words. Explore the play on words in the final shot and invite pairs to suggest other warnings or ‘morals’ of the story.
Arrange class in pairs. Give out 5 or 6 ‘thought-bubbles’ to each pair. Now play the cartoon again, stopping it at any point and asking pairs of pupils to write an appropriate thought-bubble for the dog (1 minute) Share. Play a bit more of the cartoon, stop and ask them for another thought-bubble, this time for one of the humans. Then invite one of them to tell you when to stop the film and challenge the others for a thought-bubble. And so on.
Now display all the dog thought-bubbles in one place, and all the human thought-bubbles in another. Then ask pupils to read them aloud in any given sequence.
Now model how a short description could be written based on one character’s point of view. Invite suggestions related to the purpose: to make the humans sound either uncaring or kind, or to make the dog sound either helpless or very much to blame. Incorporate these, re-wording and refining as you draft and re-read.
Finally, ask pupils to write two short descriptions of the same event – one from the point of view of the dog, the other from the point of view of the humans. You might remind them that the purpose is to make people reconsider their behaviour, or challenge them to write for different audiences.
Now watch RSPCA documentary.
On the first viewing just let them watch it. Afterwards ask them to share with a partner their first reactions for a few minutes.
Ask them what they think the purpose of this film is – and who it might be aimed at – and how they know. Where do your feelings change? Who comes across as kind? Why did the film-makers sometimes use still images and why sometimes moving ones. Which different people are interviewed - and why?
Before the second viewing, ask them to look out for any details which stood out as shocking and any specialist vocabulary and phrasing (formal constructions) they noticed. Give them time to jot some of these down.
Discuss the effect of seeing a dog being petted and cared for, and, at the same time, hearing about how he was abused. What other persuasive techniques does the film-maker use? (eg use of ‘we’ to include audience; reference to ‘a study by Manchester Metropolitan University’ to make the case sound serious.)
Teaching structure so that they can then structure their own persuasive text
Produce a transcript of an extract in two columns - left hand side words, right hand side a still image. Cut up the transcript sheet into sections and challenge the children to reassemble it. It is good to leave blanks - or even ask them to make their own transcription.
(An easy way of managing this with the photocopier is to blank out certain boxes and then ask them what’s missing.)
You might
- give the entire visual sequence and ask them to match it to the cut up verbal boxes
- give them the entire verbal sequence and ask them to match the cut up visual boxes
- give them all the visual and verbal links as horizontal strips, and ask them to assemble them in the ‘correct’ sequence – but see if there might be other ways in which the ‘story’ could be told in a different order
- give some boxes already matched and some not
Based on this, ask the pupils to script their own documentary/PowerPoint about animal cruelty. This is another ‘case study’. This should contain a narrator, pictures and an interview of an animal owner or RSPCA worker.
4. Replay
an 8-minute award-winning animation made by ESMA in 2007
The film tells the story of Lana and Theo who live in an underground bunker. In their world, the towns are deserted and it is impossible to breathe the air …
USING READING QUESTIONS linked to APP to UNDERSTAND A TEXT
We can piece together what life is like for Lana and Theo from a number of ‘clues’ and use these to construct a critical reading of the film, ‘Replay’:
AF2: SELECTED EVENTS IN TEXT
Lana runs home wearing a respirator and passes through an air-lock in order to reach the safety of her underground bunker
and
Lana scavenges a gun, a torch and a tape-player from the outside world
and
Lana tells Theo that it is too dangerous for him to go out alone
AF3: THEREFORE WE INFER THAT, even though it is no longer safe to breathe the air, humans can still use technology to stay alive, as long as they don’t kill each other.
AF4-6: THE WAY THE TEXT IS STRUCTURED
These events are placed at the very start of the film - and the implied dangers are reinforced through contrasting harsh and gentle sound effects and through dialogue - arouses our curiosity and anxiety about what will happen when Theo ventures out alone. The low camera angle and close-ups of Theo’s face (AF5 director’s use of language of film) help us to see things from Theo’s point of view (AF6: writer’s purposes and viewpoints) and sympathise with his frustration at being confined against his will.
AF7: RELATE TEXT TO SOCIAL, CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL TRADITIONS
Late 20th century images and objects - the tape-player, the parched landscape, the telephone wires, the abandoned vehicles, signs in Cyrullic alphabet – remind an early 21st century Western European audience of recent tragedies involving suffering and environmental disaster brought on by wars as well as abuses of nature and science. Equally, the lyrical playing of piano, guitar, harp, the happy sounds of children playing, as well as the simple looping flight of a paper aeroplane, might all be associated with an innocence of bygone times.
The film is told in about 86 short ‘takes’ or sequences, varying in length from 1 second to 50 seconds. There are 4 sections of action divided by fade-outs:
- Lana coming home (14 takes in 38 seconds) followed by the title sequence (50 seconds)
- Lana and Theo that evening (19 takes in 1 minute and 34 seconds)
- Lana the next morning (8 takes in 33 seconds)
- Theo’s journey into the deserted town, interspersed with Lana searching for him, before they are reunited ( 41 takes in 4 minutes and 10 seconds)
Simon Wrigley
NWP Outreach director