Not film related: Why I love _Timmy Time_...

Timmy Time is a television show by Aardman Animation (Wallace and Grommit, Chicken Run, Shaun the Sheep) geared towards a preschool audience. Their website is here, and the shows are on Netflix and probably available from your local library.

Reasons I <3 Timmy Time:

1. Positive depiction of a male caregiver. One of the preschool teachers is not only a male owl, but also a parent of one of the children. He isn't a buffoon -- he is depicted as a kind and sensitive male role model.

2. The lead character, Timmy, screws up. Often. This isn't a show where the lead is an angelic figure that we should all be more like. Timmy is sometimes mean, sometimes selfish, and reminds me of preschoolers I know.

3. Corollary to #2 - Timmy gets called on his stuff. Often. Timmy often gets caught when he does things that he shouldn't, and he is made to fix whatever he screws up.

4. Timmy shows genuine compassion and caring towards his friends. 

5. There are no words. Like Pingu and silent films, you immediately grasp the story because it's totally being done through visual elements and tone of voice. Timmy says "Baah", Osbourn the Owl (see #1) says "Hoot, hoot", Finlay the Fox says "Yip, yip".

Films I'm considering for Film and Culture in the Fall

Film Folks,

I like to change the films that I use for my classes on a regular basis. I'm starting the process of thinking about what films to show, and this list below is where I'm at right now. Comments, criticism, etc, are appreciated.

In no particular order:

American experience and Introduction: Not sure. I've used In America in the past, but maybe something different this time around.

Veterans: First Blood (Yes, that one.)

Ageism: Harold and Maude

African American representation: Do the Right Thing

Asian American representation: Eat a Bowl of Tea

Latino representation: Zoot Suit

American Indian representation: Smoke Signals

Gender: ....? Need to think about this one.

Class: ...? Last semester were Citizen Kane and Bulworth, need something new...

GLBT issues: Milk - Don't know how I feel about this.

Religion: Arranged - Seems to be my go-to film for this topic.

Disability: Murderball - Used this for the first time last semester, fantastic film, and great discussions afterward.

Thoughts / Comments / Criticisms appreciated!

Thanks,
Alex

[Added July 4th]:

I've gotten some commentary from other sources, and I'm considering a few changes...

For American Experience, I'm considering a soccer film called _Pelada_... I'm thinking about using it to try to discuss the American place in the global diaspora.

African American experience: I need to see _Fruitvale Station_ and think about it. Also _The Soloist_ is under consideration.

Gender needs to be broken into gender identity, and women in film. Thinking about _Thelma and Lousie_, but I'm coming up against a need to find more and more modern films. They (students) just don't relate as well to older films and don't find them as relevant. _Miss Representation_ is a possibility there... Gender Identity is hard because most of the really good films on this topic aren't American.

[Added July 5th]

I had forgotten about _Win Win_ for Masculinity. Also, perhaps _Hannah_ for women in film, and something else for gender ID.

Also forgot about _Walkout_ for Latino. _Reel Injun_ for Indian.

Intro to Film Week 3: Acting and Filmmaking

Friends,

This week was one of those teaching anomalies where a lesson plan in one class didn't work, then I tried it again in my other class and it did work. I don't think it had anything to do with the plan itself, but more the audience - something to always keep in mind. My monday night class is predominantly gen-ed students, but my Tues/Thurs class has a few students who are in the Film Production program. Same material, night and day response. In some cases I'd consider tweaking it, but talking about how acting and filmmaking are somewhat central to my learning goals... in this case, they just had to deal.

• Discuss Citizen Kane
  • Moving Camera in boarding house
  • Camera in the floor
  • Three-focus shot
• So you want to make a film
  • Preproduction
    • Writer: Outline, Synopsis or Treatment - storyboard
    • Rights
    • Funding / Budget
    • Directing
    • Equipment / Insurance
    • Casting
  • Production
    • Shooting script (script supervisor)
    • Shooting schedule
    • Shooting
      • Hours / Minors (12 hours rest daily)
    • Dailies
  • Post-Production
    • Editing
    • Sound
      • ADR
    • SFX
    • Reshooting
    • Clearing with rightholders / producers
    • Exhibition

• So you want to be an actor
  • Training
  • Opportunity
  • Historical
    • Stanislavski + The system
      • Physical action + magic “if”
      • Imagination
      • Concentration of attention: 3 circles
        • Self
        • Others
        • Outside
    • Straasberg + the Method
      • Using magic “if” to create emotional memory
      • Puts the self through circumstances similar to that of the character
    • Meisner + the Meisner Technique
      • Return to physical action
      • Imagination
      • Given circumstances of a text
      • Resists playing an action or an emotion – emotion is the job of the audience
  • Business
    • Screen
      • SAG http://www.sag.org/content/getting-started-actor-faq
      • Child actors and the Coogan Law
        • 15% of wages must go into a trust, accessable at 21
        • The money earned by a child actor belongs to them, legally
    • Stage
      • Equity
• Break
• Film: The Artist

Week 2: Audience Expectations and Physics

Week 2 Lesson Plan

Intro to Film 8 Week

• Review / Discuss Ran
• Film Form and Expectations of the Audience
  • Often connected to the Director
  • Logical plot progression
    • Exposition
    • Rising action
    • Climax
    • Falling action
    • Denoument
    • Conclusion / Closure
  • Major Dramatic Question
  • MacGuffin
  • Characterizations
    • Clear objectives
    • Stock Characters
    • (Romantic comedy – good example of stock characters)
  • Film formula – Genres (Genre group activity)
  • Types of films (larger groupings)
    • Narrative
    • Documentary
    • Experimental
• First Break (10 min)
• Physics of Film
  • Phi Phenomenon (sequence of images cause illusion of motion – flipbook)
  • Critical flicker fusion (strobing light appears constant)
  • Illusion of Movement (no real movement happening, folks)
  • Manipulation of Space
    • Off-screen space
    • Perspective shifting
      • LOTR a good example for this
    • Modern 3-D
  • Manipulation of Time
    • Cinematic Time vs real elapsed time
• Assign Essay #1
  • Short writing lecture
    • Good strong thesis statement
    • What is a paragraph?
    • Writing to engage / interest the reader
    • Taking risks in writing
• Second Break (longer)
• Why Citizen Kane?
• Citizen Kane
• (Discussion) – Assign Online Discussion

Intro to Film Summer 13 Week 1

Intro to Film Summer 13 Week 1

• Take care of registration issues at first break
• Introduce Self
  • About Me
  • How to survive classes
  • Assignments and agenda always on whiteboard
  • Suggest good notetaking
  • My lesson plans on blog
• Pedagogical ideas
  • Watch RSA video
  • Talk about constructivism
  • Watch a Vision of Students Today
• Look at Canvas
• Review Syllabus
  • Clarify text issues
• Break (10 min)
• Purposes of film mini-lecture
  • Brainstorm meanings of “film”
    • Means to power
    • art form
    • business
    • shared experience
    • system of communication
      • shared expectations and language of a film
    • clarify “film” vs. “movie” vs. “cinema”
  • Terms used: Cinematic Language
  • Transition to Mise-En-Scene: what makes film different than other art forms?
• Introduce idea of Mise-En-Scene
  • All Choices are intentional
  • Introduce ideas about staging:
    • Use picture from Kagemusha
    • Position
      • Rule of Thirds
    • Lighting
    • Color
    • Camera Position
    • Framing
      • Tight groupings vs Loose groupings
    • Use of on-screen / off-screen space
    • Open / Closed framing
  • Give ideas about what to think about while watching Ran
  • Talk about why I chose Ran
    • Use of color, space, light, dark, sound
    • Perspective of a visual artist – show paintings
• Long break (20-30 min)
• Ran
• Break (10 min)
• Discussion
  • What did the visual elements tell you about the story?
  • How did the visual elements assist you in understanding the narrative?
• Online discussion forum
• Due next week