TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD: SEEING THE FILM THROUGH THE LENS OF MEDIA LITERACY
© 2006 Frank Baker
Download this page as an Adobe (pdf) document
INTRODUCTION
Recommended Links
The Importance of Screen Education
http://www.bmm.qut.edu.au/commentary.php?Commentary_ID=59
How Filmmaking Develops Higher Order Thinking Skills
http://www.thedirectorintheclassroom.com/pdf/TDICChapter3.pdf
Recommended Articles
The World In A Fresh Light: To Kill A Mockingbird (Film as Text)
Australian Screen Education, Issue #35, Winter 2004
Film Literacy, Clearing House, Sep/Oct98, Vol. 72, Issue 1
1 The third eye: critical literacy and higher order thinking skills are improved through a film studies class; Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, Nov 2002 v46 i3 p220(11)
2 Introduction to, Good Looking: Film Studies, Short Films and Filmmaking, edited by David A. Sohn, Copyright 1976
3 The Novel/Film relationship, page 6 (A Novel Look At Film: Of Mice & Men)
FRAMEWORK FOR ANALYZING FILM
1 (suggested in “The Third Eye: Critical Literacy and Higher Order Thinking Skills Are Improved Through a Film Studies Class,” Ali Nihat Eken,
Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, Nov. 2002, v.46, i3, p220 )
2 suggested in INTRODUCTION
(this approach follows the UK recommendations for media studies)
for more about the Key Concepts of Film Studies, this site is highly recommended
3 (adapted from Reel Conversations: Reading Films with Young Adults by Teasley and Wilder, Heinemann, 1997, Chapter 2.)
SOURCE: http://sumnet.summit.winston-salem.nc.us/classrooms/film_page.html
Recommended Reading
Using Film to Increase Literacy Skills, English Journal, Vol. 93. NO. 3.
January 2004
How to Organize a Film As Literature Class
http://www.englishjournal.colostate.edu/images/filmclass.pdf
MEDIA LITERACY
More about core concepts here:
Media Literacy Core Concepts
Center for Media Literacy’s MediaLit Kit
Other resources:
Center for Media Literacy
Media Literacy Clearinghouse
1 National Council for Teachers of English, Commission on Media, Carole Cox, 1994, p.13
2 Developed by The Center for Media Literacy
USING To Kill A Mockingbird ON DVD
Recommended articles
Using DVD In the Classroom (Adobe Acrobat required)
DVD: Using Your Imagination in the Classroom
http://www.socialstudies.com/c/@PAA1S5GH732OA/Pages/whydvd.html
DVD: Frequently Asked Questions and Answers
http://www.dvddemystified.com/dvdfaq.html
STANDARDS CORRELATION
National Standards for the English Language Arts
http://www.ncte.org/standards/standards.shtml
Mid-Continent Research For Education & Learning (McREL)
National Standards
http://www.mcrel.org/standards-benchmarks/
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
LANGUAGE OF FILM
Language of Film: To Kill A Mockingbird: pages 7 -11
http://www.filmeducation.org/printpacks/secdocs/classics.pdf
Suggested Links:
Film Language (UK produced resource)
Other websites on understanding films and film language
Looking Closely at the Film, by William Costanzo
Recommended books about motion pictures/films
Recommended Texts:
Reading Films Key Concepts for Analysing Film and Television (BFI)
How to Read A Film
1 Visual Messages: Integrating Imagery Into Instruction, Movies as Mentors, pg 205
2 Saturday Review, January 12,1963
3 Reading Films: Key Concepts for Analysing Film & Television (BFI) pg.12
SYMBOLISM
1 Reading in The Dark-Using Film As A Tool In The English Classroom, pp. 82
2 Media Literacy (2nd Ed.) , pp. 42
3 To Kill A Mockingbird: Then & Now, A 35th Anniversary Celebration:
Teacher Study Guide: Looking Closely At The Film, written by William Costanzo,
Professor of English and Film, Westchester Community College
LIGHTING
Recommended links
Lighting As Storytelling
(full chapter from the text: Cinematography: Theory Into Practice)
Film Language: Use of Lighting
Recommended book
Painting With Light by John Alton
Recommended VHS/DVD
Visions of Light: The Art of Cinematography
CAMERA SHOTS1 Approaches to Media Literacy: A Handbook,
Chapter 5, Analysis of Production Elements, pp 226-227
2 Reading Films: Key Concepts for Analysing Film & Television (BFI) pg.12
3 The New Literacy, The Language of Film and Television, Chapter One pg. 7
Recommended Links
Film Language: Use of the Camera
Making Movies Make Sense: Framing
1 “Film, An Introduction” William H. Phillips, Part One, The Expressiveness of Film Techniques, pg.8
2 Media Analysis Techniques (2nd Ed.) Arthur Asa Berger
3 Grammar Of Television from Berger found athttp://euphrates.wpunj.edu/faculty/yildizm/SP/
also see How Media Products Make Meaning:http://www.uiowa.edu/~centeach/resources/ideas/media.glossary.pdf
EDITING
1 Editing for Interpretation, Chapter 9 pg. 195, The Art of Technique, An
Aesthetic Approach to Film and Video Production
2 The Hollywood Reporter, review, December 11, 1962
3 Film Editing: Manipulating Time and Space, Activity Three: Creating Meaning,
Teacher’s Resource Guide, AMPAS/Youth Media International, 2002
4 cut and dissolve: definitions from A Glossary of Film Terms
http://homepage.newschool.edu/~schlemoj/film_courses/glossary_of_film_terms/glossary.html
5 http://course1.winona.msus.edu/pjohnson/h140/studentsf01/tokillamockingbird/
Recommended Links
Film Analysis (see editing)
http://classes.yale.edu/film-analysis/
Film Language: Use of Editinghttp://www.filmeducation.org/secondary/concept/filmlang/docs/lang7.html
Putting the Pieces Together: What Does It Mean to Edit a Movie?http://scenariosusa.org/educators/makingmovies/ch5.pdf
Film Editing Glossary http://www.learner.org/exhibits/cinema/editing2.html
Film/Editing Terms http://www.zerocut.com/tech/film_terms.html
A Glossary of Film Terms
http://homepage.newschool.edu/~schlemoj/film_courses/glossary_of_film_terms/glossary.html
Recommended Readings
Film Editing: A Hidden Art? http://imv.au.dk/publikationer/pov/Issue_06/section_1/artc2A.html
Film editing (history) http://www.factmonster.com/ce6/ent/A0859784.html
Film Editing http://www.filmmakers.com/features/editing/
Introduction to Film Editing (Lesson Plan) http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/lessons/editing/b.html
Recommended Texts
Cinema Editor Magazine http://www.ace-filmeditors.org/news.htm
The Conversations: Walter Murch and the Art of Editing Film, Michael Onda
Film Editing: The Art of the Expressive, Valerie Orpen
Film Art: An Introduction, David Bordwell, Kristin Thompson
First Cut: Conversations with Film Editors, Gabriella Oldham
In The Blink of an Eye, Walter Murch, Francis Ford Coppola
Key Concepts in Cinema Studies, Susan Hayward
The Technique of Film Editing, Karel Reisz, Gavin Millar
When the Shooting Stops, The Cutting Begins: A Film Editor’s Story
Ralph Rosenblum and Robert Karen
MUSIC
http://www.elmerbernstein.com/
Listen to selections from the film soundtrack here:
http://www.jefflangonline.com/peck/home/index.htm
Recommended Links
Film Score magazine www.filmscoremonthly.com
Film Music Bibliography www.filmsound.org/filmmusic/filmmusic-books.htm
Introduction to Film Sound www.filmsound.org/marshall/index.htm
1 Simon Frith quoted in Film Languages; Media Texts: Authors and Readers
2 The 101 Best Movies You’ve Ever Heard: The Film Score at 70, FILM COMMENT, Nov/Dec. 2003, pg.40
3 as quoted in the text Creative Filmmaking from the Inside Out: Five Keys to The Art of Making Inspired Movies and Television, page 163
4 http://www.musicfromthemovies.com/pages/reviews/to_kill_a.html
5 “Fearful Symmetry: The Making of To Kill A Mockingbird”
6 The Guardian interview, October 9, 2002
SOUND EFFECTS
Recommended Websites
Film Language Sound http://www.filmeducation.org/secondary/concept/filmlang/docs/lang6.html
Exploring Language Sound
http://english.unitecnology.ac.nz/resources/resources/exp_lang/sound.html
Film & Sound Links http://www.filmsound.org/links.htm
The Art of Foley http://www.marblehead.net/foley/
Motion Picture Sound Editors http://www.mpse.org/home.html
SCREENWRITING
1 Horton Foote and the Theatre of Intimacy, pp. 45-46
2 “Fearful Symmetry: The Making of To Kill A Mockingbird”
3 Quoting Films in English Class, Richard Fehlman, English Journal
Recommended Link
Scriptwriting http://scenariosusa.org/educators/makingmovies/ch2.pdf
Recommended Text
Horton Foote : A Literary Biography (Univ of Texas Press)
SCREENPLAY
Recommended Website
Other pages from the screenplay can be found here
Recommended Texts
To Kill A Mockingbird screenplay
To Kill A Mockingbird screenplay and related readings
SETTING & ART DIRECTION
Recommended Websites/Readings
To Kill A Mockingbird: A historical perspective
http://memory.loc.gov/learn/lessons/98/mock/intro.html
To Kill A Mockingbird: Parallels to Jim Crow America
http://www.jimcrowhistory.org/resources/lessonplans/amlit_lp_lee1.htm
Art Production http://scenariosusa.org/educators/makingmovies/ch4.pdf
Art Directors Guild http://www.artdirectors.org/
Art Direction: The Visual Language of Film The World of
http://www.oscars.org/teachersguide/artdirection/pdf/artdirection.pdf
The World of Hollywood Art Design: An Interview with Henry Bumstead
Cineaste magazine, Summer 2001
Recommended Texts
Henry Bumstead and the World of Hollywood Art Direction
http://www.utexas.edu/utpress/books/horhen.html
What An Art Director Does: An Introduction To Motion Picture Production Design
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1879505185/qid=1064501470/sr=11-
1/ref=sr_11_1/102-4437040-1300949
Art Direction For Film & Video (2nd Ed)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0240803388/ref=pd_sim_books
_2/102-4437040-1300949?v=glance&s=books
By Design: Interviews with Film Production Designers
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0275940314/ref=pd_sim_books
_5/102-4437040-1300949?v=glance&s=books
1 (US Postal Service document commemorating,
American Filmmaking: Behind the Scenes, February 2003)
2 Henry Bumstead and the World of Hollywood Art Direction, pg. 7
3 transcript of TCM interview with Bumstead, from the website
4 Universal Picture Showman’s Manual, pg 6
5 http://course1.winona.msus.edu/pjohnson/h140/studentsf01/tokillamockingbird/
6 Trial brief, from Reel Justice: The Courtroom Goes to the Movies, pg.142
7 “A Visit to the Imaginary Landscape of Harrison Texas: Sketching the Film Career of Horton Foote”
in Literature Film Quarterly, Vol.17, No. 1 1989 )
Additional note: According to the text Box Office Champs, TKAM was #8 of the top grossing films of 1963, earning $7.5 million.
SCENE ANALYSIS
1 http://course1.winona.msus.edu/pjohnson/h140/studentsf01/tokillamockingbird
MOVIE REVIEW
REVIEWS
Hollywood Reporter Original Review (Dec. 11, 1962)
Variety’s Original Review
Collection of Original Reviews
Film Quarterly’s Review (2002)
Review Marking DVD Release (1998)
Film Site’s Review webpage
Film Review by James Berardinelli
Other TKAM movie reviews:
http://www.mrqe.com/lookup?%22to+kill+a+mockingbird%22
Lesson Plans:
Writing A Film Review
http://www.trinityhigh.com/curric/english/assignmt/filmrevw.htm
What’s A Good Movie Review?
http://www.highschooljournalism.org/teachers/
LessonPlan_Display.cfm?Type=L&LessonplanId=299&AuthorId=173
1 VARIETY
GLOSSARY
Recommended websites
Glossary http://scenariosusa.org/educators/makingmovies/glossary.pdf
Exploring Language Composition
http://english.unitecnology.ac.nz/resources/resources/exp_lang/composition.html
for a good explanation of many film production terms
Moving Images In The Classroom (bfi)
http://www.bfi.org.uk/education/resources/teaching/secondary/miic/
MOVIE MARKETING
Resources:
A Case Study: Film Marketing & Judge Dredd
(17 page guide produced by BFI)
Marketing (another BFI produced guide)
Teaching Trailers (filmeducation.org)
Share This Page: