TABLE OF CONTENTS

  

FILM STUDY GUIDE FOR TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD
  SEEING THE FILM THROUGH THE LENS OF MEDIA LITERACY


INTRODUCTION
FRAMEWORK FOR ANALYZING FILM
MEDIA LITERACY
USING TKAM ON DVD
CORRELATION TO
TEACHING 
STANDARDS
LANGUAGE OF FILM
SYMBOLISM
LIGHTING
CAMERA SHOTS
EDITING
MUSIC
SOUND EFFECTS
SCREENWRITING
SCREENPLAY
SETTING & 
ART DIRECTION
SCENE ANALYSIS
MOVIE REVIEW
GLOSSARY
MOVIE MARKETING

 


 

 

 

 

 

 
 

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STANDARDS CORRELATION

Where does FILM fit in National Teaching Standards?
 The National Council for Teachers of English/International Reading Assn. Standards for the English Language Arts assert that "nonprint texts are an essential part of students' reading experience. . . . Opportunities to study and create visual texts— including narrative and documentary films, television, advertisements, maps, illustrations, multimedia/CD resources, and other graphic displays are also crucial."

National Film Study Standards for Middle School
The Film Foundation's project-- The Story of Movies-- which also features
"To Kill A Mockingbird" --includes film study standards.

 

National Standards for the English Language Arts
sponsored by NCTE & IRA
6. Students apply knowledge of language structure, language conventions (e.g., spelling and punctuation), media techniques, figurative language, and genre to create, critique, and discuss print and non-print texts.
Source: http://www.ncte.org/standards/standards.shtml

Mid-Continent Research For Education & Learning (McREL)
National Standards
 Source: http://www.mcrel.org/standards-benchmarks/

Language Arts Reading Standard 6
Uses reading skills and strategies to understand and interpret a variety of literary texts
Level IV Grade : 9-12
5. Knows archetypes and symbols (e.g., supernatural helpers, banishment from an ideal world, the hero, beneficence of nature, dawn) present in a variety of literary texts (e.g., American literature, world literature, literature based on oral tradition, mythology, film, political speeches)

Viewing  Standard 9
Uses viewing skills and strategies to understand and interpret visual media  
Level III Grades 6-8
6. Understands how symbols, images, sound, and other conventions are used in visual media (e.g., time lapse in films; set elements that identify a particular time period or culture; short cuts used to construct meaning, such as the scream of brakes and a thud to imply a car crash; sound and image used together; the use of close-ups to convey drama or intimacy; the use of long camera shots to establish setting; sequences or groups of images that emphasize
specific meaning)
Media  Standard 10
Understands the characteristics and components of the media
Level   III   Grade :   6-8  
5.Understands aspects of media production and distribution (e.g., different steps and choices involved in planning and producing various media; various professionals who produce media, such as news writers, photographers, camera operators, film directors, graphic artists, political cartoonists)
Level   IV   Grade :   9-12  
6.Understands the influence of different factors (e.g., media owners, sponsors of specific programs, codes governing advertising aimed at children, copyright laws) on media production, distribution, and advertising (e.g., whether a program is scheduled late at night or at peak times, whether a film is released in theaters or only on video)
9.Understands the relationship between media and the production and marketing of related products 
(e.g., how and why books are reissued in conjunction with film releases; how the target audience for a film determines the range of products marketed and this marketing in turn helps shape the film)

Theatre Standard 5
Understands how informal and formal theatre, film, television, and electronic media
productions create and communicate meaning
Level IV Grade : 9-12
3. Understands how the context in which a dramatic performance is set can enhance or hinder its effectiveness


The film can also be used in Social Studies/History courses in student study of both The Depression (1930s) and the Civil Rights period (1960s).

Other educators have used this film as part of Character Education as well as debate.

On Composing with Nonprint Media
2003
NCTE Annual Business Meeting in San Francisco, California
Background

Today our students are living in a world that is increasingly non-printcentric. New media such as the Internet, MP3 files, and video are transforming the communication experiences of young people outside of school. Young people are composing in nonprint media that can include any combination of visual art, motion (video and film), graphics, text, and sound -- all of which are frequently written and read in nonlinear fashion. We affirm, in our theory and practice of teaching English language arts, that reading and writing are ultimately different but inherently related aspects of the same process of meaning making. Why, then, would we treat the reading and writing of new media texts in any different manner? With multiple opportunities for student expression in the English language arts classroom, these nonprint media offer new realms for teachers of composition.

The now-standard computer applications for desktop video editing, for example, incorporate visuals, text, motion, graphics, and sound. Computer-based nonlinear video production alone provides a grand new palette for students and teachers. Teachers need both the theoretical and pedagogical base to guide their students in the best educational uses of multimedia composition. Because NCTE has always led the promotion of new literacies, be it therefore

Resolution

Resolved, that the National Council of Teachers of English

  • encourage preservice, inservice, and staff development programs that will focus on new literacies, multimedia composition, and a broadened concept of literacy;
  • encourage research and develop models of district, school, and classroom policies that would promote multimedia composition;
  • encourage integrating multimedia composition in English language arts curriculum and teacher education, and in refining related standards at local, state, and national levels; and
  • renew the commitment expressed in the 1983 Resolution on Computers in English and Language Arts to achieve equity of access to the full range of composing technologies.

Source: http://www.ncte.org/about/over/positions/category/comp/114919.htm



NATIONAL COMMUNICATION ASSOCIATION’S 
STANDARDS FOR SPEAKING, LISTENING, AND
MEDIA LITERACY IN K-12 EDUCATION
 Source: http://www.natcom.org/Instruction/new_page_1.htm

Media literate communicators demonstrate…

16. knowledge and understanding of the ways people use media in their personal and public lives.
17. knowledge and understanding of the complex relationships among audiences and media content.
18. knowledge and understanding that media content is produced within social and cultural contexts.
19. knowledge and understanding of the commercial nature of media.
20. the ability to use media to communicate to specific audiences.

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Recommended Links/Resources
Viewing the Films: Not Whether or Not, but How?
http://www.ncte.org/about/over/inbox/ideas/109818.htm

Using Film to Increase Literacy Skills
English Journal, Vol. 93, No. 3, January 2004

Using Film, Video, TV In The Classroom
http://www.indiana.edu/~eric_rec/ieo/digests/d36.html

Film and the Composition Classroom: Using Visual Media to Motivate First-Year Writers  
http://sites.unc.edu/daniel/131spring99/papers/Mazer.html

 

©2003 Frank W. Baker