March 14/15 Block Day, Cinematic Techniques, The Style of Tim Burton, Edward Scissorhands

Essential Question: What are the essential features of an effective analysis of a film text?

Check as you complete:

1.____Do Now (6 minutes): Think about our first viewing of Edward Scissorhands and the note-taking exercise we did. In writing, and in complete sentences ( sentence fragments or single word responses will not receive any credit), identify four similarities between the characters Willy Wonka and Edward Scissorhands. Focus on their behavior, back story and appearance (costuming).

2. ___In-Class: In our examination of Edward Scissorhands, we should consider the following cinematic techniques:

a. ___Framing/Angles

b.___Lighting

c.___Camera Movement

d.___Music/Sound

e.___Editing ( scene changes, what is emphasized and what is not...)

3. ____Think-Pair-Share (6 minutes): In pairs, identify an example of each one of the above from Edward Scissorhands. Each student write these down below today’s do-now. Make sure you identify which cinematic technique each represents. Write these in complete sentences.

4.____Create another note-taking graphic organizer with one column devoted to “observations” and the other “interpretation” (dot-matrix paper aplenty available). 

In our viewing of the second chunk of the movie Edward Scissorhands, Scenes 5-19, 0:26:39-1:17:20 (51 plus minutes), identify in your graphic organizer, in complete sentences ( as we we want to draw from this for a stylistic analysis essay in the future), three examples for each of the following:

a. ___Framing/Angles

b. ___Lighting

c. ___Camera Movements

d. ___Music/Sound

e. ___Editing ( what do we mean by this?)

5. Watch film and note-take.

6. Exit/ Share your observation and interpretation for one cinematic technique. 

Homework. 

a. Make a type written version of your do-now and the information on your completed graphic organizer for today’s viewing of Edward Scissorhands. While typing this up, revise and add to it. Save this on your hard drive as the intention is that you will have the opportunity to copy and paste this to your essay drafts ( which you should also have on your computer rather than solely hand-written, if you didn’t already type it up). You will add “supporting evidence” from Edward Scissorhands to your recently completed rough drafts once i return them. 

b. For Tuesday’s class, everyone do Activity 2.25 (pages 168-171). Do the storyboard and reflection questions for an in class discussion on Monday. Honors Challenge (and others who wish to do this additional version of the assignment): Make a presentation version of this Activity storyboard. Activity 2.25 asks you to “craft a storyboard that capture[s] the essence of the sequence ( from the provided dialogue from Edward Scissorhands).”  Visualize, through a drawing, each of the “shots” and describe how you imagine Tim Burton’s choice of music, dialogue, framing and lighting ( state these in writing outside the “shot” box in the storyboard). In this presentation version, make each storyboard “shot”, that’s six altogether, the size of a piece of dot matrix paper, number the sequence, as these will go up on the walls of our room to replace the Of Mice and Men posters. Color welcome when appropriate, as this is Tim Burton.

Have a good weekend!