The power of words

Use this short film as a prompt for writing. Please come back and share how you used this with your students (in the comment box).

 

A fish with a smile

Watch and enjoy. Use this animated story as inspiration for your own story, poem, animation, song, discussion. How many themes can you discover?

Found here. This animation was inspired by a picture book by the famous Taiwanese author and illustrator Jimmy Liao. The short won first prize at the Berlin Film Festival in 2007.

 

Vovo (Portuguese for grandfather)

Watch Vovo, a short film by 25 year old award winning director and animator, Luiz Lafayette Stockler.

This is a short, simple but powerful story. How does the animation enhance the spoken text? What makes the simple pictures bring the story to life? Do they offer additional information which is not contained in the text? Comment on the perspective of the pictures, eg the focus on Vovo’s feet when he’s opening the fridge.

Write a short story about someone who matters to you. Create a storyboard either on paper or  online. Think carefully about your pictures and make them sparse. Play around with your perspective.

You can read an interview with Luiz Stockler here. Here is his website.

 

The Barber of Seville

Here’s a humorous take on Rossini’s opera, The Barber of Seville.

The plot here is based on fantasy, and reminds me of The Sorceror’s apprentice, originally a poem by the German poet, Goethe, before it was popularised by Disney.

Use this video as an inspiration and do one of the following –

• write a poem
• draw a cartoon sequence
• write a short one-act play
• record a radio play
• video a dramatised version of your own

 

The Tadpole

Remember the animaton Finding Nemo? Use this video as inspiration for a story about animals – give them human qualities.

The Tadpole from Passion Pictures on Vimeo.

 

Think about it

Is it possible to lie without saying a word?

More here.

 

Discussion Prompt #7 – Telefuture

Telefuture – news report from 1980 envisions the future of TV.

This 1980 news report explores the predicted world of future television, particularly in terms of information services technologies — with a concentration on Teletext and Viewdata systems. This is particularly fascinating given that now, in 2010, “convergence” of Internet services back to the television is the latest trend.  From the Vortex Video Archive.

Discuss:

• What is true for today? How many of these predictions do we see today?
• In what ways has technology taken a different path?
• What is funniest in this report?
• If you made a TV show about what to expect from media technology of the future, what would you say?

 

 

Discussion prompt #6 – Water

• How important is water to our lives?
• This film isn’t just about water. What else is it about?

• Discuss the inequality shown in the film between those with money and those without.
• How would you solve our water problems?

This is a trailer for Irena Salina’s documentary film, Flow.

What other questions arise from this film?

 

Writing prompt #15 – When humans ruled the earth

Stephen Ong has created an insight into the human machine and it’s consumption addiction.

• Write about your response to this quote:  ‘If it keeps up, man will atrophy all his limbs but the push-button finger.’ – Frank Lloyd Wright.
• Think about one aspect of the environment or animal world which we have exploited and imagine a better solution
• What would happen if animals exploited us?
• You are elected to save the world from human destruction. Your mission starts now…

 

Writing prompt #14 – Dot

Dot. The world’s smallest stop-motion animation character shot on a Nokia N8.

• Write a paragraph about a very tiny character braving the elements around her.
• Write a song about how hard it is to be small/big/puny/pimply/nerdy.