The Summer Part Two . . .

Case Study 2

City of God/Cidade De Deus (Meirelles, 2002)

You have now completed your brief character Mind Maps on Rocket, Carrot, Little Dice/Little Ze, The Tender Trio (Shaggy, Clipper, Goose), Bene, Knockout Ned and Thiago. The next stage is to consider their role in narrative and explore the key scenes that they appear in.

Firstly, for each character I would like you to explore at least two key scenes and explain their role and function within those scenes. You really need to focus on the micro features of these scenes (make-up, costume, performance, cinematography, sound and mise-en-scene as these reveal a great deal about the characters.) In order to access the higher marks you must analyse these films and their micro and macro features closely.

Then carry out your own detailed and 'A2 standard' research on the social conditions in the slums and aspects of Brazil’s history and politics. You have already made a start of this.
(Starting points, your notes from the Documentary News from a Personal War, will help you)

Consider:

1. Contrast between the private apartments in Copacabana, Ipanema and Leblon and the favelas in Rio de Janeiro.
2. The high inflation and country’s foreign debt in the 1980’s – how would this impact on the poor?
3. The migration of people from the city from rural areas during the 1980s/1990s – consider the impact?
4. What was the significance of the political prisoners in the 1960s and the rise of the Comando Vermelho. Who did they see as their enemy?
5. The role of the Roman Catholic priests and their condemnation of the Government’s treatment of the poor?

Over the summer think carefully about the issues of conflict, power and poverty in these two films – start creating a list of different and detailed examples.

Looking forward to seeing you all in September!

Happy Holidays

Well, the summer has arrived and you have six long, and hopefully sunny, weeks to research, reflect and analyse La Haine and Cidade De Deus. We have watched both films once, but in order to prepare fully for the start of the A2 course you will need to rewatch the films several times focusing on: micro & macro features, characterisation, social/historical and political context. I have set a range of tasks on both films:

Case Study 1 – La Haine (Kassovitz, 1995)

Thinking about the characters is a good way to start to understand any film. In La Haine we are introduced to the characters of:

1. Said - Arab African-French
2. Vinz - Jewish
3. Hubert - black African-French

They are united by a shared youth culture, their differences do not impact on their friendship but each is extremely aware of the ways in which their ethnicity is viewed by others in France. Consider why it is Vinz who has to try and gain entry into Asterix flat? Consider, Said’s role in the opening of the film and the ending.

Create a detailed character profile for Said, Vinz and Hubert you need to include the following:

Pictures and Screen Shots
Key Scenes in which they appear, you will need to provide detailed explanations of how they appear in key scenes, below are some key scenes but there are lots more that you can explore.

1. The TV crew attempting to interview the three
2. Hubert in his bedroom – consider Mise en Scene (look at the posters)
3. The Authorities trying to remove them off the roof
4. The three of them sitting in the children’s play area
5. The story telling experience in the toilet
6. Interview with the plain clothes police men
7. The art gallery scene
8. Confrontation with the skin head gang
9. The final scene

Explain how the use of Micro Features is used to reveal information about each character (Consider how mise-en-scene, cinematography, editing, sound and structure of the narrative create meaning for the audience and reveal information about the characters).

Begin to carry out research on the social, historical and political contexts of the film: key areas of research include Les Banlieues, the French empire and imperialism, racism in France and the French police force. You may be interested to research the more recent riots in France.

Lesson Planning Task

Using the opening sequence of either 'Cidade de Deus' or 'La Haine' design a three part lesson (starter, main part, review) in which you introduce a new Year 12 class to some of the micro features of film and the ways in which they create meaning for the spectator.

You should try to:

• Use a one hour 3 part lesson structure (starter - 10mins, main part - 35mins, review - 15mins)
• Introduce some key vocabulary (word bank?)
• Choose an appropriate section of the opening to demonstrate the chosen micro feature(s)
• Model the way meaning is created
• Create any necessary resources
• Assess what the class have learnt

Please map your progress on your blogs. It would be worth your brainstorming the activities that helped you to learn best over the last year including learning tools, thinking tools, progress check ideas, activities using images/sound/clips etc

Miss Ryan

Short Films

As you are all aware, there will be no lesson this Friday. You are expected to use the time to finish the filming for your short film projects and begin to put together the screenplay for your short film.



Your Tasks

1. Please update your blogs before Monday so that I can get an idea of who has been playing what role in small groups.


2. Complete all filming.


3. Bring in cameras to Monday's lesson.

It is VITAL that you bring in the cameras as it can take up to an hour to upload the film to the Mac.

Mr Mitchell will be setting up the Macs in the Learning Resource Centre so we will be able to begin the editing of the films on Wednesday afternoon, following your morning watching La Haine.


I have spent the past week playing with the software and creating a DVD so I will be able to help with the editing. Please come to Wednesday's session with some patience - the program takes a little getting used to, especially if you're only used to using the PC.


Enjoy the sunshine!


Miss Ryan