Task:
With
a partner you must either- go to the movies, rent a DVD or decide on a movie on
free to air TV and present a review of the film as a 3 minute entertaining play
for our class. The movie you chose must be rated either G or PG and you must gain
your parents' permission to watch it.
In
this task one reviewer is to use nothing but superlatives to sing the praises
of the film whereas the other reviewer is abhore the film with a passion.
Here
are a couple of reviews from two famous Australian film critics. Use these webpages
as a template to give you ideas on how to approach this task.
Happy
Feet - they both like
Madagascar
- they differ a bit ;)
The
dialogue of the play must contain: the name of the film, a brief introduction
to the film's plot, the director, the producer, who the main characters are and
a little about their personalities plus a comment on the actor's performance,
the setting, the major complication, the films message to the viewer, a comment
as to why students should see this film and a star rating out of 5.
The
dialogue should aim to contain a few of these words where appropriate: plot, sub-plot,
script and atmosphere.
I
also find I like to challenge the children by doing a little 'forced creativity'
in relation to vocabulary :)
You
must also include the words:
- pedestrian,
abhorance, mundane,
- words
the teacher wants to focus on
-
three new words you have learnt for this task
To
help develop vocabulary and to have the children 'rise above the mundane use of
words' I insist that some words are not to be used.
Words
definitely not allowed: got, fun, sad, happy, sux, crap, garbage, good or any
other mundane terminology.
Teaching
Point:
The
trick with a film review is to tell the audience enough about the film to convince
them to see it or not, but not enough to ruin the experience for them.
Presentation:
Create
digital videos of the performances for inclusion on a class CD or broadcast over
the school intranet. The 'best' (play that covers all requirements and is entertaining)
could be performed at a school assemby.
