Skip to Main Content

Lesson 4

Considering the varied genres, settings, and styles of the movie clips we’ve seen so far and the features we’ve viewed independently, we will think about the possible genre, concept, setting, and style of our own original movie and learn to use the Movie Concept Tool.

Lesson Goals

  • Can I define and exemplify genre, concept, style, setting, and mise-en-scène?

  • Can I recognize and interpret settings and stylistic choices in a variety of films?

Texts

There are no texts for this Lesson.

Materials

Tools

Reference Guides

Editable Google Docs

Activity 1: Read – View – Discuss

We will view clips and trailers of movies set in high school and discuss the style, setting, genre, and mise-en-scène of each movie.

Review the terms and definitions in Section 2 of your Filmmaking Glossary for genre, setting, and style.

As a class, read and discuss the entry for the new term mise-en-scène from Section 2 of the glossary, and its roots in the French term placing in the scene. Make an entry in your Vocabulary Journal for this term, and write a concise definition that reflects how the term relates to a director’s role in setting up the shots for a movie.

As you view clips or trailers of various high school movies with your class, take notes in your Learning Log about the style and setting choices the filmmakers’ made for each movie, and what you notice about its mise-en-scène.

Activity 2: Read – Write

We will be introduced to the Movie Concept Tool, which will help us think about our concept, setting, style, and mise-en-scène as we conceptualize our own original movies.

Access the Movie Concept Tool and study how it is organized: each term includes references from the Filmmaking Glossary and spaces to write about the concept, setting, style, and mise-en-scene for the original movie you will conceive, plan, and later pitch.

You will use this tool to begin thinking more concretely about your movie and its overall concept, mood, and style.

As your teacher models the Movie Concept Tool with a movie you have recently viewed, make notes in the Movie Planning section of your Learning Log about how you might develop a concept for your own original movie through its setting, style, and mise-en-scène.