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Cathy Flynn and Tanya Treavett take a look at some of the British Film Institute resources at Foundation, KS1 and KS2 and consider how they might be used in the classroom.
Using Bfi Film Clips at KS2
Story Shorts consists of five films aimed at Key Stage Two. The films are ideal for using as texts within the literacy hour, as they provide a very rich stimulus for discussion and writing. They also provide an opportunity for children to discuss and understand the process of film making.
The films are varied in nature, mixing animation and real-life action, as well as a mixture of subject matter, ranging from issues of low self-esteem, to the growing cycle of vegetables and dealing with the loss of a parent mingled with the difficulties of moving to a new area.
As with Starting Stories, the films are accompanied by a teaching booklet. This gives a detailed description of each of the films, information on how to use film in teaching and detailed lesson plans for each of the films based on year group.
Below are brief overviews and lesson ideas for two of the films found on the Story Shorts compilation.
El Caminante - A Brief Overview
El Caminante is a five minute, drawn animation focussing on the central character of a travelling tight-rope walker. The film starts with the villagers preparing for his arrival. They put up banners and bunting and begin to gather. El Caminante arrives and enjoys the atmosphere before preparing his daring tight-rope walk. This he does in style, almost falling at one point. Once complete, El Caminante leaves the village and it returns to its daily goings on.
The music and colour in this film are vital, as the excitement builds, so too does the tempo of the music. The colours also change from shades of blue to shades of orange as the excitement builds.
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Lesson Ideas · Write a character portrait for El Caminante followed by a newspaper advertisement detailing the required attributes or a report of El Caminante’s time in the town · Explore how suspense is built up in the story – the tempo of the music and the colours used. Discuss how this could be translated into narrative writing · Write a description of the setting after discussing and analysing the way the village is introduced in the film · Write an account of El Caminante’s day from his viewpoint · Write additional chapters to the story, for example, what did El Caminante do before arriving? Where did he go afterwards? · Write an alternative story based on the narrative structure of the film
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Train of Thought - A Brief Overview
This three minute film is another drawn animation. It is however very different to El Caminante in style and substance. Train of Thought makes use of a variety of pencils, inks and paints to create a series of ever-changing images accompanied by a suitable and lively soundtrack. The images displayed do not represent a narrative line in itself but rather the thoughts and feelings of an individual.
The film provides a wonderful opportunity for children to use the full extent of their imagination to interpret the film’s images and to think about different ways of presenting their own ideas and thoughts.
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Lesson Ideas
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The other three films in the pack are ‘Second Helpings’, a Wallace and Gromit type animation film dealing with the issues of low self-esteem in a young girl; ‘Growing’, an animation about the growing and harvesting of vegetables; and ‘Mavis and the Mermaid’, a real-life action film about an unhappy girl, having recently moved to the area after the death of her mum, who meets a lady who thinks she is a mermaid trapped on land.
These films, especially used with an Interactive Whiteboard, can all be used effectively in literacy as well as other subjects including music, art, PE and science.
We have seen, on many occasions, that children respond exceptionally well to watching and sharing films. It is something that the children can engage with easily and understand and the work that they produce as a result of watching the films as a stimulus can be richer in vocabulary and substance.
These two resources can be obtained by telephoning BFI on 0870 241 3764. The cost of the KS1 compilation, Starting Stories (including teacher’s notes) is:
