English - Creating Our Own Short Film

Best Friend Counselling

Hey, welcome back to another blog post. In the last few weeks in English, our class was split into groups to make our own short film.

Ours is based on two best friends (Xavier and John) that are going to counselling to fix their relationship, but it turns out that John has been cheating on his best friend with another person named Frank.

This is a retelling of the Merchant of Venice because we took the main principles of the court scene and transformed it into a modern setting.

The 2 additional film techniques we used were high angle and over the shoulder.

We chose a high angle to make John look weak and vulnerable and we chose over the shoulder to give the viewer some perspective.

Some challenges we encountered was that we didn't have that many days where our whole group was at school so it was hard to get our filming finished so next time we will make sure everybody comes. Another factor was that we couldn't find a good area to film because we needed a place that was empty and a place we could be loud in, we eventually settled with our classroom.

If we were to do this project differently I would plan out where we are going to film in advance and actually write a script as we did this whole film improve. 

Creative Writing - Show Not Tell

What do you think “show don’t tell” means?

Show don't tell- Show don't tell means mean's instead of telling what the character is doing you show his/her expressions like showing how the person is upset, angry and show how he is feeling that and what is he/she doing that makes the reader think that the expression or action of the character is Happy or Sad.

Task- Rewrite these sentences to “show” and not “tell”?

The buildings were tall

The extremely tall buildings peaked through the clouds.

Sarah was really upset

A tear was falling down sarah's sad face.

The lake was beautiful.

The sun shined accros the beautiful sparkly lake.

Creative Writing - Language Features

Metaphors And Similes

Metaphors and similes examples 

What is a metaphor? 

A metaphor is a figure of speech that is said in an untrue way but explains an idea.

-She is an angle 

- The snow is a white blanket 

what is a simile?

Uses the words "like or as" to compare things 

- You are as fast as a cheetah 

- It is shiny as a star 

Workshop 3 lighting and colour' enhance the story? English

Key words- atmosphere/mood 
How we feel watching the scene.

Lighting and colour 

Warm - makes feel comfortable, safe, welcoming
cold - Feels sterile, clean, futuristic, technological.

Bright - feels more lively, energise, vibrant.
Dull - feel, calm, quiet, boring, old.

Natural - sources are sun/moon, feels like real life.
Artificial - man-made sources, feel unnatural.

Palette - the colour used in the shot e.g nature palette will have colours found in nature like browns/greens.

The scene where august cries to his mum about looking different
- They don't even talk to me  
- my face is ugly
- Is it always going to matter
-Auggies mum goes into his room to check on him he tells her that others make fun of him and she reassures him.

Theme- Importance of friends & family 
Shots/angles 
- close-ups used to show Auggies emotions
- over the shoulder when mum speaks to show conversations from Auggie's point of view.

Lighting/colour 
- warm dark colours
- This is safe and comfortable space for Auggie to cry
- Dull colours
- Sad, lonely, sympathetic, calm, quiet,
- Natural light is nighttime 

Effect on the viewer 
- Sympathetic sad, sorry, lonely, depressed, miserable, downhearted, forlorn 

Directors purpose 
- emphasises the sadness of the moment and the importance of Auggies relationship of his family.

Co-construct a SEXXXYparagraph 
In the scene were Auggie cries to his mother about being bullied, Colour and lighting are used to create an atmosphere of sympathy we see this through the use of warm and dull colours in the shot. These make the space feel safe and comfortable for Auggie to express his emotions. this makes us understand how Auggie is feeling miserable, oppressed and depressed because he looks different from his peers. he askes his mum "will it always matter" Which is a feeling most of the audience can relate too. This was done to show the theme of the importance of friendship and family because Auggie learns resilience by talking issues through his mum. Combined with this is the use of close up shots to show the emotions and tears on Auggie's face. The viewer of a moment later in the story where Auggie is upset because of his sister Via doesn't want him to go to her play. Just like this scene, Auggie runs to his room upset and a member of his family comes to reassure him.

Workshop 2 Impact of angles, movements & shots

Shot 1- jack and Julien are fighting because Julien called Auggie a freak so Jack chose to stand up for Auggie

Shots/angles- Dutch tilt something is wrong
Low angle- makes person on top look stronger Jack & makes the person below look weak and venerable.

Viewers reaction- Shocked, concerned, worried, surprised

• jack had never stood up for Auggie before 
• Jack usually agrees with Julien. 

Directors purpose-close up used to make us feel part of the fight, see the characters' emotions and reactions
Uses techniques to build or concern/shock

Other techniques 
slow-motion used to show us the details of the fight - to fast otherwise
Music minor, slow tempo, dynamics increase from quiet to help us focus and create atmosphere.


co-construct our Sexxxy paragraph 
S- in the fight scene between Julien and Jack, camera angles are used effectively to draw the viewer into the scene.

E- this is demonstrated through the use of low angles, close-ups, and Dutch tilt shots. The low angle shot makes the person on top jack look strong and more aggressive and the person Julian on the bottom look weak and venerable.

X- This makes the audience concerned, shocked and surprised because up to this point Jack always agreed with Julian.

X-The director did this to draw the viewer into the event and highlight Jack's struggle to choose between being right or being popular.

X-combined with this is the use of slow-motion and music which helps us to see details on the characters' faces and recognize their emotional reactions.

Y-This can be composed of close up shots of the start of the film when we first meet Auggie. They are both used to show us a small part of a bigger moment.

Workshop 1

Kindness- 

Verble/physical action that's nice, caring, using manners and is respectful.

Example- 

When Jack sticker up for Auggie during the fight scene with Julien.
- Shows kindness
-sticking up for a friend
-Not letting others talk badly about friends
-Jacks has previously not been kind, talked about Auggie behind his back.

Important because-

Helps people make friends
- Builds a person self-confidence
- Makes people feel accepted/included
- if there wasn't kindness Auggie wouldn't have made friends, grown self-confidence to be able to take off his helmet feel included at Beeker prep.

Example 2-

When Amos & the others help jack and Auggie fight the 7th graders.

Importance of friendship and family-

Trust, the trust of others, support systems, people you feel safe with, Help build resilience

Example 1- 

When their dog daisy die.
-shows theme
- brings family together to grieve
- Show support for one other.
- Auggie & Via put aside their argument to look after each other.

Example 2- 

Fight at the nature reserve where Amos and the other boys come together to rescue Jack and Auggie from the 7th graders.
-Show theme
- support because they stand up for each other
- trust
-the boys come to help them, they don't abandon each other
- resilience
- the boys support each other to move forward, they are all friends now.

Important to the story-

Good relations with friends help Auggie build trust and feel safe. he takes off his helmet.
- his friendship with sommer helps him build resilience, trust, and forgiveness
- his family is always there to support him when things go wrong at school.

the struggle between right and popular-

Being right means showing integrity
- doing the right this even when no one is watching.
- being popular means agreeing with/ acting in a way others want you to act, even when you don't agree.

Examples 1- 

When jack chose to stay with Auggie as his science partner instead of Julien
- Shows theme
- Jack chooses right over popular. Julien wanted to leave Auggie out and jack chose not to.
- in the past, jack had picked friendship with Julien over Auggie.

Example 2-

when simmer decides to sit with Auggie instead of the popular girls who were talking behind Auggies back.
- Shows theme
- simmer chose right not to sit and talk nasty with her friends, but go and sit with Auggie who was alone.
- Auggie doesn't trust her at first because of jack sommer stays anyway and helps Auggie
- Link to the importance of friendships.

Important to the story-

The concept is relatable,  everyone has to experience this so it helps help the viewer to engage with the story.
-Makes kindness/ relationships more obvious when we've seen the personal struggles.