Month: December 2015

Darth Vader, Playground Monitor

Posted on by Kirt Ethridge

The North Side of the city I live in is quiet, safe, the kind of place where parents let their kids walk to school and schools walk their kids to the sleepy cinema down the street. People get hype about films, sure, but they usually take their hype to the IMAX theater across town.

Which is how, when I woke up on the day of the Star Wars premiere, completely ticketless, I was able to post this Facebook status:

force awakens

{Image is a screenshot of one of my Facebook statuses. It is from December 17, last Thursday, at 10:32 AM. I say: “Who wants to see The Force Awakens at 7 TONIGHT with me? Showplace North still has tickets!”}

Only work stood between me and LUKE SKYWALKER OH MY GOD.

So, like any responsible teacher would, I wore my costume to school.

darth vader playground monitor

{Image is a selfie of me in a Darth Vader costume. I am outside on the playground. Kids are playing football on the field in the background.}

“My friend and I wrote down what we think the story of it will be,” aptly-named redhead Ben told me. “I illustrated it.” I flipped through his carefully printed plotline, which mostly consisted of Kylo Ren looking menacing while stormtroopers loitered in the background. Fair enough.

“Are you going to see the movie?” another kid asked. Yes, I said. “At North?” Yes. “At SEVEN?” His eyes were as wide as Luke’s when Darth Vader dropped that paternity truth bomb.

Thus, I spent the night before our last day of the semester in a darkened theater with that kid and his little sister, watching something beautiful and wondrous unfold on the big screen. I laughed; I cried; I screamed (heck, I was doing a lot of that when they played the Star Trek, Fantastic Beasts, X-Men, AND Civil War trailers before the film began).

I fell in love again.

Incoherent spoilerific reactions under the cut:

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Good luck.

Posted on by Kirt Ethridge

good luck

{Image is a photoset. The title: “Studying for Finals.” The first picture is a still from The Avengers. Maria Hill stands with her arms crossed. She says, “When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?” The second image is a still of Tony Stark. He says, “Last night.”}

Trailer Techniques

Posted on by Kirt Ethridge

Unless you’ve been shot into space, possessed by Loki, or frozen by Hydra in the past week, you’ve probably already seen the Captain America: Civil War trailer. If you’re me, you’ve seen it so many times that you have it memorized. (“He’s my friend.” “So was I.” Cue continuous pained sobbing.) Bucky remembers Steve stuffing his shoes with newspapers. Tony wants to punch Steve in his perfect teeth. Sam Wilson is worried that he’ll be caught in the crossfire, and STEVE ROGERS CAN HOLD DOWN AN ENTIRE HELICOPTER WITH THE FORCE OF HIS RAGE. Oh, yeah, and Steve and Bucky apparently find the time to practice throwing the shield back and forth like a Frisbee just so they can beat the holy hell out of Iron Man. Fun times all around.

If you’re me, you like watching trailers repetitively for a variety of reasons: spoiler-hunting, character analyzing, or something in between. Trailers are addicting–that’s why they’re such good marketing tools. If a trailer makes you stare at your computer screen while emitting high-pitched shrieks of glee, it’s doing its job.

How do trailers convince us to buy movie tickets half a year in advance? How much of the film’s plot do they reveal anyway? With this week’s lesson plan, your students will analyze trailers for plot, character, and theme, and then compare their analysis to the plot, character, and theme of the film itself. They will also discuss which marketing techniques work on them and which don’t.

Students will engage in visuals, lecture, whole group instruction, discussion, and a project.

Materials Needed:

  • Computer
  • Projector
  • Computers available for student use, with (monitored) access to YouTube

Standards Met:

  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.1 Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.9-10.2 Integrate multiple sources of information presented in diverse media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) evaluating the credibility and accuracy of each source.
  1. Tell the students that they will primarily be watching trailers today. Give them a moment to process this and then calm down. Remind them of the rules for watching films in class (be quiet, pay attention, etc.).
  2. Play the Civil War trailer for the students. Once the trailer is finished, ask them what film techniques they noticed in the trailer. What colors did they notice? Was the trailer dark or light visually? What was the mood of the trailer? What does the film’s plot seem to be from the trailer? Did they notice any spoilers or easter eggs? This discussion should last five to ten minutes.
  3. Tell the students that this trailer analysis is the basis for their large project. In class, they will watch two trailers of their choice, one for a film they have not seen and one for a film they are familiar with. These trailers do not have to be superhero-themed, but they may be, as this is a superhero-themed unit.* They will analyze both trailers as stand-alone pieces of work; they will write a short description of both discussing the visual and plot elements of the trailers. Their short description will conclude with a few sentences describing what they expect the plot arc of the film to be, based on the trailer. Then, for the trailer of the film they have seen, the students will write an additional paragraph discussing what actually occurs in the film. How is it different from the trailer? Is the mood different? Is the plot substantially different from what they see represented in the film? With all of these issues considered, do your students think that this trailer accurately represents the film?
    1. The students will have time to type up this short analysis as homework.
  4. When the students turn in their analyses, have them discuss what they found. Overall, did they find that trailers were true to the films, or did they seem to be false advertising? With what they have discovered in mind, do they think that the Civil War trailer accurately portrays what will occur in the film? What sort of important parts of the film do you think the trailers’ makers purposely left out?
  5. Conclude class by watching another trailer. Or rewatch Civil War. Rewatching Civil War is always an option.

*Here are a bunch of links to superhero film trailers!

What did your students think of the Civil War trailer? What do you think? As always, if you use this lesson plan or any of the others in your classroom, let me know in the comments!