Objective: Connect understanding of the techniques used to tell a story for a specific purpose and audience. Relate to culminating activity.
Materials: Media Literacy Chapter (Grade 10 textbook) and Worksheet
Audio Clip from "Stochasticity" (Radiolab)and script
Video Clip (Fire Swamp) from The Princess Bride
Sound Library
1.Give students the Media Literacy article to read independently. Ask them to underline the four key ideas/rules of media literacy in the text.
2. Ask students to volunteer the underlined sentences, and paraphrase them in the worksheet space provided.
3. Show students the video clip from The Princess Bride. Together, identify the message, target audience and commercial purpose of the clip.
4. Using the descriptions in the textbook, ask students to draw examples of camera angles and shots and identify their purpose in storytelling. Use examples from popular culture to illustrate (i.e."High-angle shots are used to make characters appear powerful and scary, like Darth Vader).
5. Watch the Princess Bride clip again, without sound. Ask students to identify the types of shots used for different characters. Refer to the archetype activities completed yesterday--do the types of shots used to show Westley or the Prince fit in with their character types? Does it go against their types in any way?
6. Using the article as a reference, match the definitions for audio techniques with the correct term on the worksheet. Think back to the first showing of the video clip for examples--when does the "scary" music start? What types of sound effects are used for the creatures in the firs swamp? What reaction is intended from the audience?
7. Listen to the balloon story from Radiolab , pausing periodically for students to note which audio techniques are being used. Pay special attention to the storytelling voice--Where does the narrator change the tone or pitch of their voice? Where does the narrator pause? What effect do these techniques create? What would the story be like without these effects?
8. Hand students a script of the story and listen again, noting the sound effects where they appear in the story.
Also identify the narrative techniques (repeating "down, down, down") that enhance the effectiveness of the language in the story.
9. Using the SmartBoard, pull up the free sound library. Explore different sound/musical effects that could be used in students' culminating activity. Play some of the effects, and ask the class to identify and come up with suggestions for when use in telling a story-- For a fight scene? When a monster appears?
