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Lesson 1

We will learn about movies as a medium for storytelling from the point of view of filmmakers, and we will learn how to analyze a movie. We will watch the opening sequence of the critically acclaimed feature film Hidden Figures (Theodore Melfi, 2016) and analyze the storytelling choices, tools, and techniques used by the creators of the movie.

Lesson Goals

  • Can I use critical analysis skills to closely watch and understand a movie?

  • Can I use evidence from a film or film excerpt to support my claims about the filmmakers’ storytelling tools, techniques, and choices?

Texts

Core

  • Multimedia
    • Excerpts from Hidden Figures, Theodore Melfi, Fox 2000 Pictures, 2016

Materials

Tools

Reference Guides

Editable Google Docs

Activity 1: Read – Write – Discuss

We will introduce the unit by examining the Central Question.

Read the unit’s Central Question:

How do we tell stories with films?

Use the following questions to guide a discussion with a partner or small group:

  1. What is the Central Question asking?

  2. What might you already know in relation to the Central Question?

  3. What about the question piques your curiosity?

  4. How do you think this question relates to the texts or topic of the unit?

  5. If you were to provide an answer to the Central Question today, what would it be?

In your Learning Log, write a response to Question 2.

Share your responses with a partner or small group.

Activity 2: Read

We will review the Unit Text List to familiarize ourselves with the texts we will analyze and discuss throughout the unit.

Step 1

Access and review the Unit Text List. Note the information that is included about each text. These texts are also listed in the activities in which they appear, under the Materials tab. You will notice that each text has an icon by it. These indicate where the text is located, which corresponds to the Location column in the Unit Text List.

Text locations are below:

  • Tradebook: These texts are full-length novels or nonfiction books you will most likely have copies of.

  • Digital Access: You can find these texts online. Use the information provided in the Unit Text List or on the Texts tab for the activity to conduct a web search for the resource. Digital Access resources include online articles, videos, podcasts, and other web sources.

  • PDF Texts: These are formatted PDFs of texts that are available for download on the Materials tab.

  • CD/DVD: This is material available on a CD or DVD. These materials might also be available through online content providers.

Step 2

Review the Independent Reading Text Options. Here, you will find suggested options for independent reading related to the unit.

Activity 3: View – Discuss

We will be introduced to the idea of film as a way to tell a story. We will begin to learn how to analyze a movie by considering key questions about the filmmakers’ decisions and approach. To begin, we will watch a short clip from a 2016 movie Hidden Figures and will learn how to use the unit’s Resources to examine a movie.

Step 1

Follow along as your teacher introduces (or reviews) the Video Note-Taking Tool, which is used to write down key details while watching a video or movie.

Note that the tool has a column for recording details that stand out as you watch a movie, a column for coding the type of detail, and a column for writing an analysis, a short explanation of what the detail might mean.

Look at the Types of Details key at the bottom of the tool, paying particular attention to the codes for visual details (VD), audio details (AD), and details related to the presentation of characters (ID, ND).

For the first viewing of a short clip from Hidden Figures, you will only focus on one type of detail, as assigned by your teacher.

  • visual details (visual techniques that are used by the filmmakers to introduce and set the scene, and to create atmosphere)

  • audio details (audio techniques, sound effects, and music that are used by the filmmakers to introduce and set the scene, and to create atmosphere)

  • character details (details presented by the narrator, a character, or visually that begin to tell you who the characters are)

Step 2

View the opening of Hidden Figures, a clip of the first 6 minutes, 33 seconds (up to the image of a rocket taking off). In this movie, based on the true story of math geniuses working at NASA, the opening sequence shows the challenges the lead characters face as African-American women in 1960s America, a time when their brilliance and essential work in the space program defied popular expectations. As you watch, analyze how the story is being introduced and told, focusing on one of three questions and lenses:

  • Visuals: How does the movie look and feel? What visual images or effects stand out to you?

  • Sound: What music or sound effects are the filmmakers using? How do these audio details influence your initial impressions of the movie?

  • Setting and Characters: What are you learning about the setting and characters? How do the filmmakers help you connect emotionally to these characters?

Step 3

After watching the opening clip of Hidden Figures, share your initial impressions of the movie in a class discussion in response to the following guiding questions:

  1. What initially stood out to you about the movie?

  2. What do the opening scenes of the movie make you wonder about?

As a class, share, compare, and discuss the notes you wrote down on your Video Note-Taking Tool in response to questions about visuals, sound, and characters.

Discuss the following question:

  1. How do details in the three areas (visuals, sound, characters) combine to introduce the movie and begin to develop its mood and story?

Activity 4: Read – Discuss – Write

We will learn how to use the Understanding a Movie Tool and Filmmaking Glossary as we watch and analyze movies and filmmaking throughout the unit.

Step 1

Follow along as your teacher introduces and models the use of resources you will use throughout the unit:

  • Understanding a Movie Tool

  • Filmmaking Glossary

Review the About the Movie section at the top of the Understanding a Movie Tool. Discuss where and how you might find information about a movie to complete this background section.

Briefly discuss any new filmmaking terms you encounter on the tool, such as cinematographer and genre. Examine the Wikipedia or Rotten Tomatoes page for Hidden Figures (or another informational source). As the class finds and notes key information about the movie, write it down in the "About the Movie" section on your tool.

Step 2

Look at the second section of the tool: Initial Impressions of the Movie. Note that it asks you to think about your first impressions of the following:

  • level of realism

  • setting (mood and atmosphere)

  • characters

  • concept

  • style

Briefly discuss what you think these elements refer to and how you might define them.

Step 3

Access the Filmmaking Glossary, which contains descriptions and information about many terms used in the movie industry. As a class, review the organization and table of contents for the glossary, noting what information it contains and where you can find it.

Note where you might find information about terms such as cinematographer, genre, realism, setting, concept, and style. As a class, closely read and annotate the first four paragraphs of the entry in the glossary for realism and discuss the following text-specific question:

  1. Why is some sense of realism an important element in most movies?

Respond to the two questions in the Level of Realism section of the Understanding a Movie Tool for the opening scene of Hidden Figures.

Activity 5: Read

We will work with filmmaking terminology to develop and write down concise definitions in our Vocabulary Journal.

Step 1

For this activity, you will set up a Vocabulary Journal, which you will maintain for the entire unit, using the Filmmaking Glossary to support your learning about key terms.

You might use a Vocabulary in Context Tool for words you can decipher from the text in the glossary; for others, you might use morphology to decipher the meaning, or a reference resource such as the glossary or a dictionary or encyclopedia to check if your previous understanding of the term is accurate. For some words, your teacher might present you with definitions.

You will write down the filmmaking terms and definitions in your Vocabulary Journal. For each word, identify the vocabulary strategy (e.g., context, morphology, reference resource) you used to determine its meaning.

Begin by recording the terms you have already started to consider in your Vocabulary Journal: cinematographer, genre, realism, setting, concept, and style. Write them down so you have room to write a definition and other notes.

As a class, make entries for the first three terms based on previous discussions.

Step 2

Join a three-person home study team, and divide up the terms setting, concept, and style so each of you has one key term to read about in the Filmmaking Glossary.

Find, read, and annotate the section in the glossary that presents information about your term. Based on that information and context clues from the entry, write a definition for the term that you can share with other students.

Find another student in the class who has read about and defined the same term as you. Compare your definitions and discuss the information and context clues that led you to those definitions. Based on this conversation, reconsider and revise your definition.

Return to your home study team and share what you have learned about your term and its definitions. As a team, make entries in your Vocabulary Journals for the three new terms.

Activity 6: Write

We will complete the initial impressions of the movie section of the Understanding a Movie Tool based on what we have learned about the filmmaking terms and the movie so far.

As a class, in pairs, or individually, use the understanding you have gained to complete the Initial Impressions of the Movie section of the Understanding a Movie Tool for Hidden Figures.

Write down and compare responses to the questions for the movie’s setting, concept, and style.

Return to the Filmmaking Glossary and read the second paragraph of the entry for character. With a partner, discuss what the concepts external attributes and internal attributes mean. Add these characterization terms to your Vocabulary Journal.

Then list and briefly describe (in the Characters section of your Understanding a Movie Tool) what you are starting to understand about the traits of the three main characters you meet as the movie begins:

  • Katherine Johnson

  • Dorothy Vaughan

  • Mary Jackson

Compare what you have listed as attributes for the three characters with the descriptions written by other students in the class.

Summarize, compare, and discuss what your initial impressions of the movie are, based on what you have written down in your tool.