A summary of the students comparison of Niki Caro’s short films.
Learning intentions Students are learning to…
- Identify the similarities and differences between the film language of Caro’s short films
- Analyse the distinctive film language of Caro’s short films.
Success criteria (How do students know they have achieved success?)
I can…
- I can give examples of the similarities and differences between the film language in Sinistre, Sure to Rise, The Summer the Queen Came and Old Bastards
- I can explain some of the wider implications of Niki Caro’s film language.
Activities
Think/Pair/Share
In pairs students discuss their homework, filling in any further ideas as they go.
One person from each pair stands. The teacher asks each standing student to discuss a segment of the organiser e.g. A student might explain that Sinistre is the only black and white film under differences or that Sure to Rise like The Summer the Queen Came uses kiwi iconography. Teacher can add ideas to a copy of the graphic organiser on the board. Students continue filling out their notes through this process.
Discussion
Teacher needs to draw out the wider implications of Caro’s use of film language through this discussion. For example discuss: Caro has been influenced by Film Noir and Horror; she uses a lot of high contrast lighting and exaggerated colour and sound; she likes visual puns; she uses a lot of kiwi iconography; she is interested in the juxtaposition of objects; her stories usually focus on domestic and inter-personal relationships and she is particularly interested in gender and the role of woman in our society.
Homework
Students are to choose three elements of film language that they find interesting in Niki Caro’s work and write three or four paragraphs analysing that language. To hand in.
