Film History - Unit 1: The Fundamentals of Film Language and the Silent Era
| Author: | Alyssa Rock |
|---|---|
| Summary: | Designed as an introductory unit, students will learn about the precursors of the film medium and the silent era of film history. Students will also get an introduction to the two basic poles of film: Realism and Formalism. This unit will focus specifically on Formalism and thus students will learn the basics of Formalist film vocabulary and analysis. Subsequent units in the class will cover Classicism (the middle road) and Realism. |
| Subject: | |
| Objective: | Students will be able to analyze films formalistically. |
| Main Concepts: | film history: the silent era, film as an art form, Realism, Formalism, Classicism, mise-en-scene, editing, form = content |
| Curricular Goals: | My underlying goal of the silent film unit, in addition to the four that are outlined below, is to help students' change their perceptions towards silent films, to see that they are interesting, beautiful, entertaining, and worthwhile. My Personal Curricular Goal #1: Students will develop the fundamental tools of film literacy which will enable them to more critically "read" or analyze the films they view and to enjoy the films they view on a more complex level. My Personal Curricular Goal #2: Students will gain a deeper understanding of the cultural and historical roots of today's movie industry. My Personal Curricular Goal #3: Students will learn how film is simultaneously a reflection of and influence upon societal values. My Personal Curricular Goal #4: Students will get exposure to a variety of films from different time periods, countries, and genres that they wouldn't normally be able to see. |
Lesson Plans
This is intended for the first day of a film class. It gives students an introduction into the governing course principles and the daily routines. The activities on this day are also designed to give the teacher an insight into the personalities and viewing habits of the students.
For the majority of Unit One and a portion of Unit Two, students will be writing one-page responses to all the feature films which they will view in class. Today's instruction provides models and explanations on how to write an adequate response paper and gives them an opportunity to practice.
This activity teaches about film history and the concept of film as a unique medium. After a brainstorming activity in which students identify a few of the things that makes film unique as a medium, students will view a Powerpoint presentation which gives a brief overview of the history of painting styles up to 1895 (when film was invented). The purpose of this Powerpoint presentation is to demonstrate how art before 1895 historically seemed anticpate the coming of the film medium. For the remainder of the class period, students will make thaumatropes, phenakistoscopes, kineographs, or zoetrope machines (little film-like machines that were popular in the years preceding the invention of film).
Working in groups, students will read an introductory article about Realism and Formalism and fill out a comparison/contrast worksheet as they do so (to help them process what they're reading about). In those same groups, students go to nine different learning stations which further reinforce or expand the concepts discussed in the article. At each learning station, students will participate in a brief activity which explores a different aspect of Realism and Formalism.
Students will identify the elements of Realism and Formalism that can be found in Charlie Chaplin's The Kid (or another appropriate silent film).
Students are given a packet of film vocabulary terms. The packet contains a series of graphic organizers which help to visually represent the relationship of different film terms. The students will fill out the definitions of the vocabulary terms as they are presented in a lecture with film clip examples.
Continuing with the previous day’s lesson, students continue filling out a packet of film vocabulary terms. The packet contains a series of graphic organizers which help to visually represent the relationship of different film terms. The students will fill out the definitions of the vocabulary terms as they are presented in a lecture with film clip examples.
Projects
Students imagine they are running for an important political office of some sort. Phyllis Knight, a fictitious documentary filmmaker, approaches the student and asks if she can make a documentary film about a day in that student's life. For the first part of the assignment, students must select a typical day in their life and record (in writing) all of the things a camera would see if it filmed them from sunup to sundown. After the students have completed this part of the assignment and handed it in, Phyllis informs them that someone broke into her editing studio and made a copy of all the footage that she had filmed about the student. She thinks it will be used to make a film that portrays the student as a bad person and which will then be shown to voters in order to discredit them. In order to apologize, she has agreed that she will take her footage and edit it to make the student look like a good person to be shown to voters. To complete this project, students must go through a series of steps to create two storyboards about a day in their life: one which portrays them as a good person and one which portrays them as a bad person. They must use the elements of film and the techniques of editing that have been discussed in class to accomplish this assignment.