Film 1: Content
Unit 8: Taking the Next Steps
Essential Question:
Where to go now with all that you've learned and the skills you've gained in Film 1?
What would be your dream movie to make?
Seniors DUE MAY 21, Frosh-Jr DUE MAY 23
Career Catalog Culmination Project
Pitch Package Project
Where to go now with all that you've learned and the skills you've gained in Film 1?
What would be your dream movie to make?
Seniors DUE MAY 21, Frosh-Jr DUE MAY 23
Career Catalog Culmination Project
Pitch Package Project
Unit 7: Widescreen & the American New Wave
Essential Questions:
What was the effect of television on cinema?
What does screen size do to directorial choices and the visual storytelling of film?
Key Terms:
-Academy ratio
-Standard screen format
-Widescreen
-Letterbox
-Pan and scan
-CinemaScope
-Aspect ratios of 1:1.33, 1:1.85, & 1:2.35
-Rule of Thirds
-High Concept
-Low Concept
Learning Activities:
Creative Journal: Describe the themes in film you are most drawn to. Develop a three act plot structure that would bring your favorite themes to life. Complete the task by developing a log-line that encapsulates the plot and theme.
Ratio Rationale: Shoot a 30 second music video in three aspect ratios. Edit each to best utilize the mise-en-scène. Create a commentary reel where you discuss the benefits and challenges of the three ratios as they show in screen.
Career Catalog: Job description, training, & opportunities for: Music Supervisor & Music Producer
Blog Reflection: Write a response to this unit’s essential question(s). Use moments of success and challenge from the learning activities to exemplify your understanding.
Use CiteThisForMe.com to cite the music for your video
What was the effect of television on cinema?
What does screen size do to directorial choices and the visual storytelling of film?
Key Terms:
-Academy ratio
-Standard screen format
-Widescreen
-Letterbox
-Pan and scan
-CinemaScope
-Aspect ratios of 1:1.33, 1:1.85, & 1:2.35
-Rule of Thirds
-High Concept
-Low Concept
Learning Activities:
Creative Journal: Describe the themes in film you are most drawn to. Develop a three act plot structure that would bring your favorite themes to life. Complete the task by developing a log-line that encapsulates the plot and theme.
Ratio Rationale: Shoot a 30 second music video in three aspect ratios. Edit each to best utilize the mise-en-scène. Create a commentary reel where you discuss the benefits and challenges of the three ratios as they show in screen.
Career Catalog: Job description, training, & opportunities for: Music Supervisor & Music Producer
Blog Reflection: Write a response to this unit’s essential question(s). Use moments of success and challenge from the learning activities to exemplify your understanding.
Use CiteThisForMe.com to cite the music for your video
Widescreen vs. Pan & Scan
Aspect Ratios & How They're Used
Color in Storytelling
Unit 6:
Post-war: Film Noir, Neorealism, & Hitchcock
Essential Question:
What distinguishes the style of post-war film genres?
Key Terms:
-Film Noir
-On location shooting
-Neorealism
-Nonprofessional actors
-Real space & real time
-“The Master of Suspense”
-Colorization
-Reverse angle
-Offscreen space
-Cinematic voyeurism
Learning Activities:
Creative Journal: Assemble a glossary of lighting terms, highlight your favorite film genres
Genre Crossover: Choose a familiar storybook plot. Then, remodel and retell the story’s plot in one of the three film genres covered, as well as a genre of your choosing. Develop a film that capitalizes on the genres' most distinctive features.
Career Catalog: Job description, training, & opportunities for: Set Designer, Film Producer
Blog Reflection: Write a response to this unit’s essential question(s). Use moments of success and challenge from the learning activities to exemplify your understanding.
What distinguishes the style of post-war film genres?
Key Terms:
-Film Noir
-On location shooting
-Neorealism
-Nonprofessional actors
-Real space & real time
-“The Master of Suspense”
-Colorization
-Reverse angle
-Offscreen space
-Cinematic voyeurism
Learning Activities:
Creative Journal: Assemble a glossary of lighting terms, highlight your favorite film genres
Genre Crossover: Choose a familiar storybook plot. Then, remodel and retell the story’s plot in one of the three film genres covered, as well as a genre of your choosing. Develop a film that capitalizes on the genres' most distinctive features.
Career Catalog: Job description, training, & opportunities for: Set Designer, Film Producer
Blog Reflection: Write a response to this unit’s essential question(s). Use moments of success and challenge from the learning activities to exemplify your understanding.
Film Noir Examples
Neorealism Examples
Hitchcock Examples
Unit 5: Breaking Rules & Inventing New Ones
Essential Question:
How do WWII era films change the way we use cinematic language?
Key Terms:
-High contrast lighting
-Deep focus
-Soft focus
-Overlapping dialogue
-Flashback cuts through time
Learning Activities:
Creative Journal: Design a set for a hypothetical TV show. Create a creature make-up design.
Flash Forward: Tell the story of many years in the span of only a few moments. Use clues within the mise-en-scène to convey the passage of time and the changes of characters.
Career Catalog: Job description, training, & opportunities for: Lighting Designer, Makeup Artist
Blog Reflection: Write a response to this unit’s essential question(s). Use moments of success and challenge from the learning activities to exemplify your understanding.
How do WWII era films change the way we use cinematic language?
Key Terms:
-High contrast lighting
-Deep focus
-Soft focus
-Overlapping dialogue
-Flashback cuts through time
Learning Activities:
Creative Journal: Design a set for a hypothetical TV show. Create a creature make-up design.
Flash Forward: Tell the story of many years in the span of only a few moments. Use clues within the mise-en-scène to convey the passage of time and the changes of characters.
Career Catalog: Job description, training, & opportunities for: Lighting Designer, Makeup Artist
Blog Reflection: Write a response to this unit’s essential question(s). Use moments of success and challenge from the learning activities to exemplify your understanding.
Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941)
scene - Kane's boyhood
scene - Kane's boyhood
Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941)
scene - "A marrage like any other."
scene - "A marrage like any other."
Three Point Lighting
Unit 4: Breaking the Silence
Essential Question:
How did Hollywood change with the addition of sound?
Key Terms:
-Screenplay
-Storyboarding
-Vitaphone
-The Studio System
-The Hollywood Production Code
-Dissolve
-The Technique of Separation
Learning Activities:
Creative Journal: Create a storyboard that would bring your screen-play to life within the mise-en-scène. Add the camera shots to your screenplay.
Project: Sound Story: Create a story in AfterEffects using only sounds to convey a beginning, middle, and end.
Career Catalog: Job description, training, & opportunities for: Sound Engineer
Blog Reflection: Write a response to this unit’s essential question(s). Use moments of success and challenge from the learning activities to exemplify your understanding.
How did Hollywood change with the addition of sound?
Key Terms:
-Screenplay
-Storyboarding
-Vitaphone
-The Studio System
-The Hollywood Production Code
-Dissolve
-The Technique of Separation
Learning Activities:
Creative Journal: Create a storyboard that would bring your screen-play to life within the mise-en-scène. Add the camera shots to your screenplay.
Project: Sound Story: Create a story in AfterEffects using only sounds to convey a beginning, middle, and end.
Career Catalog: Job description, training, & opportunities for: Sound Engineer
Blog Reflection: Write a response to this unit’s essential question(s). Use moments of success and challenge from the learning activities to exemplify your understanding.
Unit 3: Mastering the Shot
Essential Questions:
How did German Expressionism and montage change cinema?
Key Terms:
-German Expressionism
-The 180 Degree Line
-Montage
-Creating Spectator
-Master Shot
-Coverage
-Establishing Shot
-Insert Shot
-Reaction Shot
-Freeze Frame
-Superimpose
-Point-of-View Shot
-Reverse Angle Shot
-Slow Disclosure Shot
-Fast-Motion Shot
-Slow-Motion Shot
Learning Activities:
Creative Journal: 1. Create a screenplay for a brief TV Show Pilot. 2. Design a costume collection for your TV Show Pilot's cast of characters.
TV Show Pilot: Create a story to film, focusing on a strong master shot and the listed coverage shots. Focus on using montage to allow the spectator to create story connections.
Career Catalog: Job description, training, & opportunities for: Film Editor, Costume Designer
Blog Reflection: Write a response to this unit’s essential question(s). Use moments of success and challenge from the learning activities to exemplify your understanding.
How did German Expressionism and montage change cinema?
Key Terms:
-German Expressionism
-The 180 Degree Line
-Montage
-Creating Spectator
-Master Shot
-Coverage
-Establishing Shot
-Insert Shot
-Reaction Shot
-Freeze Frame
-Superimpose
-Point-of-View Shot
-Reverse Angle Shot
-Slow Disclosure Shot
-Fast-Motion Shot
-Slow-Motion Shot
Learning Activities:
Creative Journal: 1. Create a screenplay for a brief TV Show Pilot. 2. Design a costume collection for your TV Show Pilot's cast of characters.
TV Show Pilot: Create a story to film, focusing on a strong master shot and the listed coverage shots. Focus on using montage to allow the spectator to create story connections.
Career Catalog: Job description, training, & opportunities for: Film Editor, Costume Designer
Blog Reflection: Write a response to this unit’s essential question(s). Use moments of success and challenge from the learning activities to exemplify your understanding.
Unit 2: Grammar of Film
Essential Question:
Why is cinema both the most realistic and also the most artificial of the arts?
Key Terms:
-Narrative Film
-Wide Shot
-Full Shot
-¾ Shot
-Medium Shot
-Medium Closeup
-Close-up
-Extreme Closeup
-Long Shot
-Two-Shot
-Over-the-Shoulder
-High-Angle Shot
-Low-Angle Shot
-Oblique Shot
-Handheld
-Tracking Shot
-Pan
-Tilt
-Zoom In
-Zoom Out
Learning Activities:
Creative Journal & Homework: Create a poster advertisement making wise use of the principles and elements of art. Begin with the brainstorming and drafting worksheet. From there, create a fully realized poster no smaller than 8.5"x11".
Commercial: Work in a team to capture of each of the listed shots in to advertise an object of your choosing.
Career Catalog: Cinematographer, Production Designer
Blog Reflection: Write a response to this unit’s essential question(s). Use moments of success and challenge from the learning activities to exemplify your understanding.
Why is cinema both the most realistic and also the most artificial of the arts?
Key Terms:
-Narrative Film
-Wide Shot
-Full Shot
-¾ Shot
-Medium Shot
-Medium Closeup
-Close-up
-Extreme Closeup
-Long Shot
-Two-Shot
-Over-the-Shoulder
-High-Angle Shot
-Low-Angle Shot
-Oblique Shot
-Handheld
-Tracking Shot
-Pan
-Tilt
-Zoom In
-Zoom Out
Learning Activities:
Creative Journal & Homework: Create a poster advertisement making wise use of the principles and elements of art. Begin with the brainstorming and drafting worksheet. From there, create a fully realized poster no smaller than 8.5"x11".
Commercial: Work in a team to capture of each of the listed shots in to advertise an object of your choosing.
Career Catalog: Cinematographer, Production Designer
Blog Reflection: Write a response to this unit’s essential question(s). Use moments of success and challenge from the learning activities to exemplify your understanding.
Unit 1: The Origins of Filmmaking
Essential Question:
How do filmmakers develop and convey stories within the mise-en-scène?
Key Terms:
-Persistence of vision
-24 frames per second
-Cut
-Shot
-Take
-Set-up
-Mise-en-scène
-Documentary Film
Learning Activities:
Creative Journal:
1. Notice, Wonder, Discover, Imagine: Create a short story based on an art piece inspiration.
2. Develop a script of dialogue between two characters.
3. Choose a character to analyze in depth.
One-Shot Story: Create and film a one-shot "story" in which something interesting happens.
Multi-Shot Story: Re-shoot your one-shot story from a number of different perspectives. Then, use this additional footage to cut into your original one-shot story.
Career Catalog: In an ongoing Google Slide Presentation research and note the job description, training, & opportunities for: Film Director, Screen Actor.
Blog Reflection: Write a response to this unit’s essential question(s). Use moments of success and challenge from the learning activities to exemplify your understanding.
How do filmmakers develop and convey stories within the mise-en-scène?
Key Terms:
-Persistence of vision
-24 frames per second
-Cut
-Shot
-Take
-Set-up
-Mise-en-scène
-Documentary Film
Learning Activities:
Creative Journal:
1. Notice, Wonder, Discover, Imagine: Create a short story based on an art piece inspiration.
2. Develop a script of dialogue between two characters.
3. Choose a character to analyze in depth.
One-Shot Story: Create and film a one-shot "story" in which something interesting happens.
Multi-Shot Story: Re-shoot your one-shot story from a number of different perspectives. Then, use this additional footage to cut into your original one-shot story.
Career Catalog: In an ongoing Google Slide Presentation research and note the job description, training, & opportunities for: Film Director, Screen Actor.
Blog Reflection: Write a response to this unit’s essential question(s). Use moments of success and challenge from the learning activities to exemplify your understanding.
Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory
(Louis Lumière, 1895)
(Louis Lumière, 1895)
Arrival of Train at La Ciotat
(Louis Lumière, 1896)
(Louis Lumière, 1896)