Collage
As a group of 3, make a collage after viewing the movie "Australia" and "Rabbit Proof Fence". Compare and contrast the media representations of stereotypes in both feature films.
You may use white mahjong paper,black sugar paper and cut outs of pictures obtained from web sites like IMDB or from movie reviews.You can use your creativity in making symbolic representations of the themes in the movies like actual objects or paper models pasted onto the collage.( Read the task sheet given carefully.The table with the list of points should be included in the collage.The points can be hand-written or typed.)
* A collage is a work such as a literary piece composed of both borrowed and original material.
Suggested reading
Tips on how to watch movies intelligently and critically
Viewing a film critically and attentively means to realize cinema with greater thought and awareness.
The feature film is the most NATURALISTIC of all fictional forms.Film tries to hide the idea that it is a film,whereas a lot of plays consciously remind the audience that they are watching a play.
Film aims to create an illusion of absolute reality,yet its construction methods are highly artificial.
A film is made out of sequence;it is highly edited,and each camera shot(visuals) and the sound track control exactly what everyone in the audience sees and hears at any given moment.
High production cost must yield return on capital investment.Therefore MAINSTREAM films,at least,aim at a MASS-MARKET audience,are largely conventional,made within popular GENRE categories to suit popular taste.Thus film is more likely to appeal to current fads and fashions,and to reflect and reinforce the values of mass audience in order to satisfy and gratify,rather than to challenge them,make too much of an intellectual demand,or take them into unknown,dark or disturbing waters.
Given the limitation of running time(usually 90-120 minutes),alongside this need for mass appeal,film must often resort to comparatively crude,blatant,obvious and simplistic methods so that audiences will grasp meaning and effect instantaneously.Fine detail and depth of treatment is harder to achieve in this medium.
Many films have a print source,ie.they are adaptations of novels,plays,biographies or historical events.Print must be translated into visual image and action,as the success of the film medium is dependent on such ingredients.It is difficult to translate the levels of meaning contained in the metaphorical language levels that is the subtlety and rich ambiguity of words.Films can mostly translate metaphor into literal representations.
You need to be able to make use of normal language to describe graphically what is seen and heard in selected sequences from the film in order to demonstrate how the film maker has treated that particular sequence of visuals and sound track so as to communicate meaning and effect.
As a FICTIONAL form,like the NOVEL,SHORT-STORY and PLAY,feature film unfolds in narrative form:EXPOSITION,DEVELOPMENT,CLIMAX AND CONCLUSION.
The manipulative process of giving or withholding information,and surprising the audience is an element common to all forms of story-telling.In film,EXPOSITION is usually much reduced,with expository material and contextual information being supplied as quickly,as dynamically as possible,embedded in the action.
The sequence of story telling on film is different from other narrative forms,due to the nature of filming.Rather than continuous rolling,film is an assemblage of separate TAKES ,or SHOTS.There will be a variety of both short and long takes,which are assembled in an order that allows the audience to make connections between them in order to make the story unfold in a meaningful way.This method of telling is called MONTAGE.Films often exploit the freedom montage offers them to assemble,or paste together a whole sequence of seemingly unrelated shots so as to build up a meaning and a tension,and to play with the audience's expectations and surprise elements.Montage effectively exploits the impact of CONTRASTS through JUXTAPOSITIONS.
As a group of 3, make a collage after viewing the movie "Australia" and "Rabbit Proof Fence". Compare and contrast the media representations of stereotypes in both feature films.
You may use white mahjong paper,black sugar paper and cut outs of pictures obtained from web sites like IMDB or from movie reviews.You can use your creativity in making symbolic representations of the themes in the movies like actual objects or paper models pasted onto the collage.( Read the task sheet given carefully.The table with the list of points should be included in the collage.The points can be hand-written or typed.)
* A collage is a work such as a literary piece composed of both borrowed and original material.
Suggested reading
Tips on how to watch movies intelligently and critically
Viewing a film critically and attentively means to realize cinema with greater thought and awareness.
The feature film is the most NATURALISTIC of all fictional forms.Film tries to hide the idea that it is a film,whereas a lot of plays consciously remind the audience that they are watching a play.
Film aims to create an illusion of absolute reality,yet its construction methods are highly artificial.
A film is made out of sequence;it is highly edited,and each camera shot(visuals) and the sound track control exactly what everyone in the audience sees and hears at any given moment.
High production cost must yield return on capital investment.Therefore MAINSTREAM films,at least,aim at a MASS-MARKET audience,are largely conventional,made within popular GENRE categories to suit popular taste.Thus film is more likely to appeal to current fads and fashions,and to reflect and reinforce the values of mass audience in order to satisfy and gratify,rather than to challenge them,make too much of an intellectual demand,or take them into unknown,dark or disturbing waters.
Given the limitation of running time(usually 90-120 minutes),alongside this need for mass appeal,film must often resort to comparatively crude,blatant,obvious and simplistic methods so that audiences will grasp meaning and effect instantaneously.Fine detail and depth of treatment is harder to achieve in this medium.
Many films have a print source,ie.they are adaptations of novels,plays,biographies or historical events.Print must be translated into visual image and action,as the success of the film medium is dependent on such ingredients.It is difficult to translate the levels of meaning contained in the metaphorical language levels that is the subtlety and rich ambiguity of words.Films can mostly translate metaphor into literal representations.
You need to be able to make use of normal language to describe graphically what is seen and heard in selected sequences from the film in order to demonstrate how the film maker has treated that particular sequence of visuals and sound track so as to communicate meaning and effect.
As a FICTIONAL form,like the NOVEL,SHORT-STORY and PLAY,feature film unfolds in narrative form:EXPOSITION,DEVELOPMENT,CLIMAX AND CONCLUSION.
The manipulative process of giving or withholding information,and surprising the audience is an element common to all forms of story-telling.In film,EXPOSITION is usually much reduced,with expository material and contextual information being supplied as quickly,as dynamically as possible,embedded in the action.
The sequence of story telling on film is different from other narrative forms,due to the nature of filming.Rather than continuous rolling,film is an assemblage of separate TAKES ,or SHOTS.There will be a variety of both short and long takes,which are assembled in an order that allows the audience to make connections between them in order to make the story unfold in a meaningful way.This method of telling is called MONTAGE.Films often exploit the freedom montage offers them to assemble,or paste together a whole sequence of seemingly unrelated shots so as to build up a meaning and a tension,and to play with the audience's expectations and surprise elements.Montage effectively exploits the impact of CONTRASTS through JUXTAPOSITIONS.
