Alan Walker - Faded
David Guetta - Titanium
Click here for teacher resources for this film
This is another great video telling a story. What I love about this video is the viewer is left until the end to find out what has caused all this destruction.
- Watch the first minute, discuss what has happened? What has caused this? Why?
- Ask the children to write a description of the first scene, use the show not tell technique to create thoughtful writing.
- Discuss the boys character, how is he presented in the first scene, how does this change?
- Write in role of the boy, use his emotions through the story to gain an understanding of his feelings and whether he comprehends what is happening.
- Look at the ending, who is to blame? Why? Is the boy acting in self defense? Can he control it?
- If you could have a superpower what would it be?
- You wake up one morning to find you have incredible strength, what do you do? How would your life change?
- Design you own superhero, what powers, costume, name would he have?
- Write a newspaper report of the events from the video, interview the teacher, parents and policemen.
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Use the latest music videos to inspire reluctant writers!
Stop at 00:04 What is she running from? Why is she running? What thoughts are running through her head at this point? Could you come up with a 3ed sentence to describe to the reader how she is feeling? How about a feeling, description sentence? Stop at 00:26 – What is going through her mind at this point? What choices does she have? Why are the dogs/wolves chasing her? What has she done? Who do the dogs belong to? 00:40 – How come she can hold her breath for so long underwater? 01:20 – What could happen here? Why are the lights getting stronger? 01:41 – Is she going to survive? If so, how will she survive? Does she have any superpowers that will help her here? Make sure to look at and pause on all the different scenes. This would be a chance for some more Alan Peat sentence work. 01:46 – It’s a giant hand. Who does it belong to? 2:02 – What is she thinking at this time? How is she feeling? What is this thing that has saved her life? Why has it saved her life? How could we describe it? Watch the Video on Youtube here |
Possible writing opportunities
Diary as the girl in the video Write a story up until the girl is being chased at the start of the video Description of setting. Write the ending to the story, a what happens next. Use this image to collect vocab for settings 
00:50 What could the flashing lights be?
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Avicii - Wake me up!
Inspire writing with the latest big hit!
Pause and discuss tattoos/markings – what might they represent? Why do they both have them? (00:28)
Who are they? What is the relationship between them?
When they walk outside – compare and contrast their appearance compared with the ‘towns folk’
Why are they staring at them?
Pause at 01:12 – hot seat children as the 2 girls, as well as one of the people staring at them. Try to get more information about who they are and see what develops from there.
Start again and see if the children can answer the little girl’s question – why don’t they like them?
Start it again and watch the older girl arrive in the seemingly deserted city – why is she riding on a horse? Does she always ride on a horse? See if children can generate questions.
Pause at 02:38 – why does she get in the car? Where do you think they are going?
Video gets a bit less useful here with the dancing bit but 03:12 onwards works well with girl returning to the end – overall idea that everyone belongs somewhere.
Possible writing opportunities:
Diary entry as either girl
Alternative ending once meets girl with the tattoo in the seemingly deserted city.
Poetry inspired by opening minute – feelings of being unwanted through thoughts of the girls.
Pupils could write what happened prior to the video – have they always lived there, why are they living alone, did something happen to parents etc
Courtesy of @MrBirchICT
Who are they? What is the relationship between them?
When they walk outside – compare and contrast their appearance compared with the ‘towns folk’
Why are they staring at them?
Pause at 01:12 – hot seat children as the 2 girls, as well as one of the people staring at them. Try to get more information about who they are and see what develops from there.
Start again and see if the children can answer the little girl’s question – why don’t they like them?
Start it again and watch the older girl arrive in the seemingly deserted city – why is she riding on a horse? Does she always ride on a horse? See if children can generate questions.
Pause at 02:38 – why does she get in the car? Where do you think they are going?
Video gets a bit less useful here with the dancing bit but 03:12 onwards works well with girl returning to the end – overall idea that everyone belongs somewhere.
Possible writing opportunities:
Diary entry as either girl
Alternative ending once meets girl with the tattoo in the seemingly deserted city.
Poetry inspired by opening minute – feelings of being unwanted through thoughts of the girls.
Pupils could write what happened prior to the video – have they always lived there, why are they living alone, did something happen to parents etc
Courtesy of @MrBirchICT
Chris Malinchak - So Good to Me
This video was the one that originally caught my attention to this idea. It is a lovely video and isn't a bad song either.
See examples of work using this video click here.
See more examples of writing using the video courtesy of St Bartholomews in Bolton
- Watch the first 20 seconds - how is the girl feeling? What makes you think that? What might she be doing?
- Pause just before a minute - how has the girl's feelings changed? Why do you think that is? What might she have lost? What could she do now that may help?
- Pause again at 1.42 - Has the girl's feelings changed even more now? Why do you think that maybe?
- Once the giraffe appears - are you shocked why? How does the girl feel now?
- Write a description of the giraffe - what does it look like? smell? feel?
- Use the Show not Tell technique to describe how the girl's feelings change through the video.
- Research and write a non chronological report on giraffes.
- Write a set of instructions for keeping a giraffe as a pet.
- If you could choose any animal in the world to keep as a pet, what would it be and why? What would you do with them? How would you need to change your house to take care of it?
See examples of work using this video click here.
See more examples of writing using the video courtesy of St Bartholomews in Bolton
Blur - Coffee and TV
Another example is the classic from Blur - Coffee and TV (warning there is part of this video that may not be appropriate where the carton visits Big Suzi from 2.13-2.36)
I love this video, it is emotional, interesting and really funny. The video tells the story of a milk carton trying to find a missing son to reunite him with his family. The carton encounters numerous different challenges both good and bad but nothing stops him on trying to complete his mission.
- Ask the children to write the journey of the milk carton in 1st person.
- How does the carton's emotions change during his journey, what are his high points/low points?
- What do you think the carton's view on people are? What evidence can you find to support that decision?
- Show the children the screen from 3minutes to 3.30. Ask the children to write a atmospheric description of the setting.
- Look at the interactions he has with different people, what may have been said?
- Compare the feelings of the family at the beginning and the end, how do these differ and why?
- Do you think the carton is happy at the end despite being in the trash? Why what makes you think this?
- Ask the children to write similes and metaphors of objects that seem bigger/scarier to the carton.
- Children could write another story of a journey of another inanimate object.
Mat Zo & Porter Robinson - Easy
I love the contrast of this video from the surroundings at the beginning to the end, also the message it portrays about material things not making you happy.
- Watch the first 20 seconds, what do you think the picture shows?
- Watch the first minute, who may this character be? What makes you think this? What clues make you think she is rich?
- Is she happy with all the fame and wealth she has? What makes you think so?
- Write about her surroundings at the start, the bright lights, futuristic feel to her house and gadgets she has.
- What makes her unhappy?
- Who is the blue creature?
- By the end of the video how is she feeling?
- Write about her surrounding at the end, the beautiful scenery, nature and simplicity to life.
- Compare the surroundings at the start and end, which would you prefer and why?
Duke Dumont Feat. A.M.E - Need You (100%)
I love the idea of this video, how he makes everyone else happy apart from himself due to the music.
- Children can write in role as the character and write about his day.
- They can empathise with the character and look at how he feels.
- They could imagine that this happened to them and write a day in their shoes.
- This could be linked to the story of the pied piper and look at using music as a way to hypnotise others.
- They could write a newspaper article about this strange occurrence and interview some of the other people seen in the video.
Porter Robinson - Language
I used this powerful video to complete our unit on diary writing with my y6 class. The events in the video and the chance to think deeply about all sorts of feelings lend it very well to diary writing.
Before writing we got our creative juices flowing with the following...
Stop at 00:04 What is she running from? Why is she running? What thoughts are running through her head at this point? Could you come up with a 3ed sentence to describe to the reader how she is feeling? How about a feeling, description
sentence?
Stop at 00:06 Do a vocab boost to describe the woodlands. Similes, adjectives etc
Stop at 00:26 – What is going through her mind at this point?
What choices does she have? Why are the dogs/wolves chasing her? What has she done? Who do the dogs belong to?
00:40 – How come she can hold her breath for so long underwater?
0:50 – What could the flashing lights be?
01:20 – What could happen here? Why are the lights getting stronger?
01:41 – Is she going to survive? If so, how will she survive? Does she have any superpowers that will help her here? Make sure to look at and pause on all the different scenes. This would be a chance for some more Alan Peat sentence work.
01:46 – It’s a giant hand. Who does it belong to?
2:02 – What is she thinking at this time? How is she feeling? What is this thing that has saved her life? Why has it saved her life? How could we describe it?
2:50 – What happens next?
For more of my ideas please visit my blog www.fabtasticteachingideas.wordpress.com or follow me on twitter @shaunh0pper
Before writing we got our creative juices flowing with the following...
Stop at 00:04 What is she running from? Why is she running? What thoughts are running through her head at this point? Could you come up with a 3ed sentence to describe to the reader how she is feeling? How about a feeling, description
sentence?
Stop at 00:06 Do a vocab boost to describe the woodlands. Similes, adjectives etc
Stop at 00:26 – What is going through her mind at this point?
What choices does she have? Why are the dogs/wolves chasing her? What has she done? Who do the dogs belong to?
00:40 – How come she can hold her breath for so long underwater?
0:50 – What could the flashing lights be?
01:20 – What could happen here? Why are the lights getting stronger?
01:41 – Is she going to survive? If so, how will she survive? Does she have any superpowers that will help her here? Make sure to look at and pause on all the different scenes. This would be a chance for some more Alan Peat sentence work.
01:46 – It’s a giant hand. Who does it belong to?
2:02 – What is she thinking at this time? How is she feeling? What is this thing that has saved her life? Why has it saved her life? How could we describe it?
2:50 – What happens next?
For more of my ideas please visit my blog www.fabtasticteachingideas.wordpress.com or follow me on twitter @shaunh0pper
Emile Sande - Free
Contributed by Hannah Bones - Y5 Teacher in Sheffield - Twitter @hannahjoseyb
From the heights of a tower block in London, to the top of a snowy mountain, this video takes you on one man's journey to be free. Featuring real life wing suit extreme sports athlete Jokke Sommer.
I paused during the first bullying scene which is pretty much straight away and discussed how he was feeling etc.
We then paused when the boy is watching the bird and thought about what he was thinking/ why he watched it so much/ why it was inspiring him.
Then we discussed the parallel of the boy walking up the stairs and the man walking up the mountain and the kids suggested that it was showing that it was the same person because they were mirroring each others movements.
Just before he jumps off the mountain, we thought about why the video was jumping from the little boy to the man and the kids started to discuss flashbacks and that he was escaping all these feelings by jumping off.
We discussed how he must have felt actually jumping and the comparison to the bird.
And then, finally, how he felt at the very end i.e. relieved.
I would say it's good for flashback and flash-forward writing but the teacher would have to really choose a specific scene for the chn as it jumps forward and backward lots. But, it's also really good for discussing feelings, bullying, and also the kids came up with some really great similes and metaphors.
Other possible ways to use this.
Find out about the man in the video (Jokke Sommer) What was his real life like as a child?
Use it to create adjective / simile banks of words to describe feelings.
From the heights of a tower block in London, to the top of a snowy mountain, this video takes you on one man's journey to be free. Featuring real life wing suit extreme sports athlete Jokke Sommer.
I paused during the first bullying scene which is pretty much straight away and discussed how he was feeling etc.
We then paused when the boy is watching the bird and thought about what he was thinking/ why he watched it so much/ why it was inspiring him.
Then we discussed the parallel of the boy walking up the stairs and the man walking up the mountain and the kids suggested that it was showing that it was the same person because they were mirroring each others movements.
Just before he jumps off the mountain, we thought about why the video was jumping from the little boy to the man and the kids started to discuss flashbacks and that he was escaping all these feelings by jumping off.
We discussed how he must have felt actually jumping and the comparison to the bird.
And then, finally, how he felt at the very end i.e. relieved.
I would say it's good for flashback and flash-forward writing but the teacher would have to really choose a specific scene for the chn as it jumps forward and backward lots. But, it's also really good for discussing feelings, bullying, and also the kids came up with some really great similes and metaphors.
Other possible ways to use this.
Find out about the man in the video (Jokke Sommer) What was his real life like as a child?
Use it to create adjective / simile banks of words to describe feelings.