Topic: Audiovisual Education
Abstract:
Using as a stimulus the movie “Bread and Alley” by the Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami, the students come in terms with the cinematic techniques. The students will be encouraged to critically analyze the film. The students will create a short film in orderto tell their own story, while at the same time they will get acquainted with the use of camera, shooting angles, sound effects etc.
Learning objectives:
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Teachers’ profile: (team transversality)Computer Scientist
Advisable age of students: 13+ (Flexible according to the curriculum of specific country)
Total duration: 4 teaching hours
Materials: Camera, paper for the storyboard
Phase 1 Visualisation 10 min
A. Screening of the film “Bread and Alley” by the Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami by covering the screen and listening only to the sound when the movie starts
- Do you hear one or more sounds?
- What do they tell you about the plot of the work?
- Can you imagine the story, their heroes, the surrounding environment that takes place?
- What conclusions do you draw about the film as a whole from the sound alone?
- Discuss the role of music in the titles beginning /end
- Do you recognize the song at the beginning of the film?
B . Screening of the whole film “Bread and Alley”
- What / who does the film concern?
- What is the main central idea?
- In what way does the director try to transmit the message to his audience?
C. Sociological approach
- It’s a film of individuality
- It raises issues that have attempted to capture the viewer through two characters “child, dog”.
- It is based on a realistic depiction of things centered around a hero who gets into trouble and finds the solution to the problem himself
- What social and political conditions are evident through the film?
- Censorship and propaganda are strong elements in the director’s country. That’s why he chooses an innocent subject.
D. Technical Analysis
- Camera – shooting angle (camera height: from below, from above)
- Shots (small, medium, extralarge, panoramic)
- Camera movement (fast, slow)
- Sound (choice of music, loud, intense, sharp transitions, completely quiet, natural sounds)
Phase 2 Artistic action and experimentation 2 teaching hours
Creation of the students’ own film.
Firstly, they use a storyboard to capture their story (main characters, place, theme).
- They use the camera and the techniques they learned to shoot their own short film.
- They use software for making movies in order to edit their film and to select the music.(eg. Pinnacle Studio) Selection of the videos they shot.
- Import them to the software.
- Put them in the time line.
- Edit the time line (transitions, effects, etc.)
- Selection of the appropriate music.
- Import the music to the software.
- Put it in the time line.
- Screening of the short film.
Phase 3: Reflexion and debate Duration: 1 teaching hour
Development: Screening of their movie.
Discussion of:
- Camera and shot corners
- Camera movement
- Time duration
- Distance between characters
- Selection of sound
- Use of software to make movies
Comments, possible derivations, and prolongations of the proposal: the short film can be used as a stimulus for the students to create a presentation of the director and his films.
References and links:https://archive.org/details/the-bread-and-alley-nan-va-koutcheh-1970-360p
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