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Lesson 6

We will learn about ways to plan and communicate ideas about visual style and learn about lookbooks, tone reels, and mood boards in the Filmmaking Glossary, in preparation for planning the visual elements of our own movie.

Lesson Goals

  • Can I define mood board, lookbook, and tone reel?

  • Can I apply visual, sound, and multimedia elements as I choose how my movie will tell its story?

Texts

There are no texts for this Lesson.

Materials

Tools

Editable Google Docs

Activity 1: Read – Discuss – Write

We will read about mood boards, lookbooks, and tone reels in our Filmmaking Glossary.

It can be a challenge to explain visual style through words. Mood boards, lookbooks, and tone reels are visual ways to explain the tone, feel, and visual idea of a movie.

Join a three-person reading team and access Part 2, Section C in the Filmmaking Glossary: Concepts Related to Directing, Cinematography, and Camerawork. Select one of the three design tool concepts to study:lookbook, tone reel, or mood board. Do a close reading of that term’s entry, considering the following text-specific question:

  1. In what ways does the design tool represent and communicate a director’s sense of his visual style?

With your group, report and discuss what you have learned about the design tool you read. Compare the three tools in terms of how they are developed and used.

In your Vocabulary Journal, make entries for lookbook, tone reel, and mood board and write a concise definition for each concept.

Activity 2: Read – View

We will create a lookbook, tone reel, or mood board for our own original movie.

Begin researching video images and film clips that capture the setting, style, tone, or mood you hope to create for one of your movie concepts, as described in the Movie Concept Tool you developed.

Continue your research independently outside of class, or guided in class by your teacher in future lessons. Choose 4-10 images or clips, each shorter than two minutes; save them in sequence. Be prepared to share them with your classmates.

Activity 3: Write – Present

For homework, we will plan and practice our 3–5 minute oral movie review of the high school movie we viewed independently.

For homework, review the expectations for the Section Diagnostic on the Section 3 Diagnostic Checklist. Use the Understanding a Movie Tool you completed for your movie to provide ideas and information, and the "be sure to" expectations of the task as an outline for organizing your presentation:

In your oral movie review and claim, be sure to do the following:

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

  • Rate the movie and explain your rating.

  • Explain how your movie exemplifies a claim about high school movies developed by your review team.

  • Communicate clearly and energetically as you present your review and write your explanation of the claim.

Create an outline for your oral review and practice delivering it for your family or friends, so that you are confident and ready in the next lesson to do your version of a Chris Stuckmann review for a team of fellow movie reviewers.