timeline
Lesson 1:
Lesson 2:
Lesson 3:
Lesson 4: March 30
Lesson 5: April 1st
Lesson 6: April 3rd
Lesson 7: April 7th
Lesson 8: buffer lesson April 9th
Lesson 9: April 20th
Lesson 10: April 22nd
- Research on Film Theories
Lesson 2:
- Presentations on Film Theories
Lesson 3:
- Watching Odyssey Film Episodes - intro to Film Movements.
Lesson 4: March 30
- Understanding the Assessment Criteria (this link has a detailed breakdown from the IB website) requires students to provide a strong justification for the choice of task components as part of the recorded multimedia comparative study. This includes the student’s justification for how the films arise from contrasting cultural contexts.
- How to read a Film - Roger Ebert's Quick Guide
- Types of Film - Realism, Classical, and Formalism
- Understanding 'Elements of Film Theory' Graphic.
- Colour Graphic
- Homework: Watching a Comparative Study or two - understanding the task.
- Homework - DNA Genre Task
Lesson 5: April 1st
- Movements and So Many Movements Activity.
Lesson 6: April 3rd
- Making Connections
- Declaration of Films
Lesson 7: April 7th
- Research & List of Sources
Lesson 8: buffer lesson April 9th
- catch-up and meet to discuss progress
- Producing - storyboards, planning, etc.
Lesson 9: April 20th
- Producing all planning docs - storyboards, etc.
Lesson 10: April 22nd
- Completion - First Draft due
How to read a film
So you pop your Blu-Ray into the player, and you're ready to get started. The first thing you’re going to want to do is to pay attention to. The best film analysis may require you to be pretty liberal with the “pause” and “play” buttons. You’re looking for choices made by the director, cinematographer, and editor that clue you into the emotional response and messaging of every scene.
But how can you tell what they want you to feel?
Sometimes it’s not as easy as listening to the swelling score.
Roger Ebert, often credited as the man who brought criticism to the masses, uses this cheat sheet to break down a film:
"In simplistic terms:
Source: https://nofilmschool.com/Film-theory-basic-terms
But how can you tell what they want you to feel?
Sometimes it’s not as easy as listening to the swelling score.
Roger Ebert, often credited as the man who brought criticism to the masses, uses this cheat sheet to break down a film:
"In simplistic terms:
- Right is more positive,
- left more negative.
- Movement to the right seems more favorable; to the left, less so.
- The future seems to live on the right, the past on the left.
- The top is dominant over the bottom.
- The foreground is stronger than the background.
- Symmetrical compositions seem at rest.
- Diagonals in a composition seem to "move" in the direction of the sharpest angle they form, even though of course they may not move at all.
- Therefore, a composition could lead us into a background that becomes dominant over a foreground.
- Tilt shots of course put everything on a diagonal, implying the world is out of balance. I have the impression that more tilts are down to the right than to the left, perhaps suggesting the characters are sliding perilously into their futures.
- Left tilts to me suggest helplessness, sadness, resignation.
- Few tilts feel positive.
- Movement is dominant over things that are still.
- A POV above a character's eyeline reduces him; below the eyeline, enhances him.
- Extreme high angle shots make characters into pawns; low angles make them into gods.
- Brighter areas tend to be dominant over darker areas, but far from always: Within the context, you can seek the "dominant contrast," which is the area we are drawn toward. Sometimes it will be darker, further back, lower, and so on. It can be as effective to go against intrinsic weightings as to follow them."
Source: https://nofilmschool.com/Film-theory-basic-terms
TYPES of FILM - Realism, Classical, and Formalism.
Realism
This type of film focuses on the real. Movies and TV take us to many different places, but to fall into this category, the piece has to be dedicated to showing the unfiltered world.
Some examples would be Fish Tank, The Bicycle Thief, The Deer Hunter, Kids. Characteristics:
Source: https://nofilmschool.com/Film-theory-basic-terms |
Realism VS Formalism |
CLASSICAL
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This falls between the two extremes of Realism and Formalism. Classical film still wants to emphasize authentic moments between real people but with the manipulation of its creative production elements.
Movies like Lone Survivor, Citizen Kane, The Godfather, Trainwreck, and Spotlight. Characteristics:
Source: https://nofilmschool.com/Film-theory-basic-terms |
FORMALISM
Formalism:Formalism focuses on the Director bringing the audience an altered reality that they’ve created. It’s pretty much every Guillermo Del Toro movie. And every Superhero movie. And every Star War. Most modern movies. Film Theory and Disney are compatible. Who knew?
Characteristics:
Source: https://nofilmschool.com/Film-theory-basic-terms |
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How to Read Film |
Film Elements Graphic |