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Lesson 5

We will review our Understanding a Movie Tools for movies set in high school with our peers and teacher. To learn more about how filmmakers use visual techniques, we will read an article about Alfred Hitchcock‘s use of camera angles to create particular visual effects. We will use what we learn from the article as we initially plan our own movies, using the Movie Concept Tool.

Lesson Goals

  • Can I recognize distinct movie styles and genres?

  • Can I apply my understanding of filmmakers’ choices to the process of generating my own creative ideas?

Texts

Optional

  • Unit Reader
    • “Hello, Hitchcock: Replicating Angles to Enhance Your Videos,” Laci Texter, SproutVideo, 2015

Materials

Tools

Editable Google Docs

Activity 1: Discuss – Write

In small groups, we will review the Understanding a Movie Tools for the movies set in high school we viewed outside of class.

After the teacher assigns you to a group, review your Understanding a Movie Tool with the other group members.

Use the organization of the tool to guide your review, explaining the following aspects of the movie you watched to your group:

  • Identify the movie and key information about it.

  • Summarize the movie’s storyline and the character arc of at least one major character.

  • Interpret the movie’s theme and message, and explain how the filmmakers communicate that message.

  • Present a claim about the movie’s style, and specifically its use of setting, mood, and atmosphere.

  • Share a quotation from a critic’s review of the movie.

In your Learning Logs, write notes about each of the movies members of your group have chosen. Think about which movies have a genre, concept, or style that appeals to you. Which movies seem least appealing? Which movies seem most appealing? Why? Are there any movies members of your group have viewed that could serve as inspiration for the style and setting of your original film?

Activity 2: Read – View – Discuss – Write

We will read and discuss “Hello, Hitchcock: Replicating Angles To Enhance Your Videos,” and use the article to generate ideas in our Learning Logs.

Read and annotate "Hello, Hitchcock: Replicating Angles to Enhance Your Videos."

For each of the four iconic camera shots discussed in the article, watch a short video clip, making notes in your Learning Log about what you see in the movie due to Hitchcock’s camerawork decisions.

As a class, discuss what you have learned about Hitchcock’s revolutionary use of camera shots, movements, and angles. Identify camera techniques that might be interesting to use in your own movies. Following the class discussion, in the Movie Planning section of your Learning Log, respond to the following questions:

  1. How would I like my own original movie to look and feel?

  2. What camera techniques would the filmmaking team of my movie use to create that look and feeling?

Use the discussions of shot, camera angle, style, setting, realism, hyperrealism, cinematographer, and mise-en-scène in the Filmmaking Glossary to help build your ideas.

Activity 3: Write

Based on what we have learned about the use of camera shots to influence a movie’s style, we will use a Movie Concept Tool to think about the concepts, settings, styles, and visual effects we might consider as we conceptualize our own movie ideas.

With a partner, use the organization of the Movie Concept Tool to talk out your ideas about what the concepts, settings, styles, and visual effects of your proposed movies might be.

Individually, identify two promising movie concepts, and for each, use a Movie Concept Tool to describe and explain how you might develop and use settings, movie styles, and mise-en-scène visual effects to carry out your proposed concept. Identify at least one Hitchcock camera technique that you think might be interesting to use as you list elements of your mise-en-scène.

Be prepared to explain and submit the tool in a future lesson.