WARNING: This shed contains material which may be unsuitable for pupils in primary schools. Teachers should watch the films in full before using them at their discretion with their pupils.
Francis KS3+
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I WON’T BE GOING BACK TO QUETICO PARK ANYTIME SOON. NOT AFTER WHAT HAPPENED TO A GIRL NAMED FRANCIS BRANDYWINE.
Written by novelist & screenwriter Dave Eggars, for the ever-popular radio show This American Life, animated film Francis is the tense tale of the unexplained happenings on a lake in the middle of an Ontario nature reserve.
HER MOUTH WENT DRY. SHE HELD ONTO EACH SIDE OF THE BOAT, AND NOW SHE COULD ONLY WAIT TO SEE IF IT HAPPENED AGAIN.
One night on a family camping trip to Quetico park, the reckless raven-haired Francis waits until her family have fallen asleep and takes a rowing boat out to the middle of the lake. Hoping to find a quiet spot where the teenager can lay on her back, stare at the sky and write in her journal, her expectations of a peaceful night at one with nature are soon shattered when an unexpected noise comes from the water below.
With a voiceover so rich and detailed that you could close your eyes and let your imagination run wild, it’s impressive that Hickey’s short feels so perfectly realised. For more information:Offiicial Website - http://www.nottoscale.tv/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/NotToScalehq "Join us" Twitter - https://twitter.com/nottoscalehq "Twit us" Vimeo - http://vimeo.com/84786815 |
Teaching Ideas:
This film is a perfect lesson in building tension, the narrator uses pauses and varies the speed at which he speaks in order to build the tension. Create freeze frames from throughout the story and before watching ask children to piece together what has happened. Use the line 'I did knock first' as inspiration to create own ghost stories. Children can write a prequel set in the same environment but with their own plot. Create a sequel - what happened to Francis Bradywine? Newspaper stories of the event, children create a journalistic report describing the strange events and Francis Brandywine's disappearance, including local experts and witnesses. Children can create mysterious openings for similar stories. It may be a creative activity to create Francis's diary/journal teling the story through doodles and extracts. 
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Before Sunrise
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A silent fairytale set in a quaint village in the dead of night. While everyone sleeps, shadows come alive and dance and play in the moonlight. But one shadow longs for something more meaningful. While walking across the rooftops he spots a light in a distant window...
Written & Directed By Kealan O'Rourke Produced by Trinity Films Watch on Youtube Watch on Vimeo |
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Describe the opening scene, moving through the clouds, use similes to describe
the moon. Develop the use of verbs/adverbs to enhance the description. As soon as we see the characters for the first time ask the children to describe them. Use similes and metaphors. Think of rich language to find
alternatives to 'as black as the night.'
Write a wanted poster for the mischievous shadows.
Discuss inference and deduction. How do we know that one of the characters is unhappy, does the animator show us that is unhappy through his actions?
Pause when the shadow enters the library. Describe how he feels with all of the books towering over him etc.
Discuss what the shadows are made of. Where do they come from?
Can the children think of a better name for them than the shadows? It has been
suggested that they are the 'heartless.'
Discuss the relationship with the candle, why is he drawn to her? Again how do we show that they are
sad?
Write events from the shadows perspective, this could be in diary form, write about the events seeing the candle and watching her being distinguished.
Write the next scene. What happens next?
Art Link: Use ink/paint to create images of the shadows, can the children use paint and
string in folded paper to create fierce creatures, like the one that scared the cat.
the moon. Develop the use of verbs/adverbs to enhance the description. As soon as we see the characters for the first time ask the children to describe them. Use similes and metaphors. Think of rich language to find
alternatives to 'as black as the night.'
Write a wanted poster for the mischievous shadows.
Discuss inference and deduction. How do we know that one of the characters is unhappy, does the animator show us that is unhappy through his actions?
Pause when the shadow enters the library. Describe how he feels with all of the books towering over him etc.
Discuss what the shadows are made of. Where do they come from?
Can the children think of a better name for them than the shadows? It has been
suggested that they are the 'heartless.'
Discuss the relationship with the candle, why is he drawn to her? Again how do we show that they are
sad?
Write events from the shadows perspective, this could be in diary form, write about the events seeing the candle and watching her being distinguished.
Write the next scene. What happens next?
Art Link: Use ink/paint to create images of the shadows, can the children use paint and
string in folded paper to create fierce creatures, like the one that scared the cat.
The Ghosts of Père La Chaise Cemetery
Pere Lachaise is the largest cemetery in the city of Paris, France (44 hectares (110 acres)), though there are larger cemeteries in the city’s suburbs. Père Lachaise is in the 20th arrondissement, and is reputed to be the world’s most visited cemetery, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors annually to the graves of those who have enhanced French life over the past 200 years. It is also the site of three World War I memorials.
This animation shows some of the graves that are actually in the cemetery. The story is of a little girl exploring the cemetery and meeting up with the ghost of Chopin for piano lessons.
Perhaps the children can research a famous dead person also buried in the cemetery and base their story on meeting them.
There are some beautiful scenes at the beginning of the animation that can be used for rich description.
Build up the tension through narrative of the animation. Running through the cemetery with those small glowing orbs chasing her. She knows that there is something there, but what it is it? (Show, not tell)
Writing Ideas
Can you spot the ghost at 0:42 seconds in this video?
This animation shows some of the graves that are actually in the cemetery. The story is of a little girl exploring the cemetery and meeting up with the ghost of Chopin for piano lessons.
Perhaps the children can research a famous dead person also buried in the cemetery and base their story on meeting them.
There are some beautiful scenes at the beginning of the animation that can be used for rich description.
Build up the tension through narrative of the animation. Running through the cemetery with those small glowing orbs chasing her. She knows that there is something there, but what it is it? (Show, not tell)
Writing Ideas
- Writing descriptions of the setting or particular graves.
- Write a narrative including the 1st meeting between the girl and Chopin, perhaps she was lost in the cemetery then heard quiet music and decided to investigate - build up tension.
- Write dialogue between the girl and Chopin, between you and someone you meet there.
- Perhaps a child meets someone in the cemetery at night but does not realise it is a ghost until the end of the story.
- Write from the point of view of the ghost, meeting a live human for the first time.
Can you spot the ghost at 0:42 seconds in this video?
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     Page with title, border and pictures for children to record on.
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Lune et L'Autre - A silent animation
A little girl is filling her bucket from a well in a beautiful night time setting, the huge moon turns out to be a 'creature of the night'
It turns out that this is a gentle giant.
Lots of opportunities for creative writing.
It turns out that this is a gentle giant.
Lots of opportunities for creative writing.
- descriptive writing,
- dialogue between the girl and the creature,
- writing in role as the little girl recounting what happened.
Alma - A chilling doll story
Alma is a little girl who ventures into town in the snow.
She is drawn to a shop window by a familiar looking doll. She enters the shop... what will happen when she goes inside? |
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Teaching Ideas
Let the children listen to the soundtrack of the film, turn off IWB, can they guess what kind of film this is? Thriller etc? What moods? There is quite a lot of suspense etc.
Children could predict what happens at certain points e.g. What will happen when she goes into the shop?
Children could ask questions at specific points e.g. Why is the town empty? Why does the doll just look like her? Where is the shopkeeper? What does he do with the dolls?
The children could write a sequel to this film perhaps changing parts of it.
Can the children draw/describe what they think the owner of the shop looks like? Maybe produce a wanted poster.
Here is some fabulous work create by the Year 6 class at Greenfields Primary School.
http://www.mapleclassgreenfields.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/story-writing.html?m=1
These are tremendous stories with some very sophisticated plots and sentence structures.
View some stunning Y6 writing based on Alma here
Let the children listen to the soundtrack of the film, turn off IWB, can they guess what kind of film this is? Thriller etc? What moods? There is quite a lot of suspense etc.
Children could predict what happens at certain points e.g. What will happen when she goes into the shop?
Children could ask questions at specific points e.g. Why is the town empty? Why does the doll just look like her? Where is the shopkeeper? What does he do with the dolls?
The children could write a sequel to this film perhaps changing parts of it.
Can the children draw/describe what they think the owner of the shop looks like? Maybe produce a wanted poster.
Here is some fabulous work create by the Year 6 class at Greenfields Primary School.
http://www.mapleclassgreenfields.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/story-writing.html?m=1
These are tremendous stories with some very sophisticated plots and sentence structures.
View some stunning Y6 writing based on Alma here
Tir Nan Og - Silent animation
This film is a lovely way of introducing a linear narrative. The film can be paused in parts for discussions and predictions about what is happening and what is going to happen.
Why are the birds acting strangely? Why is Grandma acting odd? Can our heroine get there in time to 'save' Grandma? Does she want to be saved? How can we tell?
The children could sequence the events using bare bones method before writing their own narrative based on the animation.
There are some beautiful landscapes for rich description as well as some horrid looking characters to describe.
Children could easily add dialogue using speech bubbles and create their own comic strip or write a script to go along with the animation
Why are the birds acting strangely? Why is Grandma acting odd? Can our heroine get there in time to 'save' Grandma? Does she want to be saved? How can we tell?
The children could sequence the events using bare bones method before writing their own narrative based on the animation.
There are some beautiful landscapes for rich description as well as some horrid looking characters to describe.
Children could easily add dialogue using speech bubbles and create their own comic strip or write a script to go along with the animation
Spooky Videos - Great for ghost stories
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