starter task think back to watching ‘the boy in the striped pyjamas’. your task is to write down...

Starter Task

Think back to watching ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’.

Your task is to write down key moments in the film that stood out for you.

You can do this in the form of a timeline, a mind map, storyboard or extended bullet points.

Characters

Take another double page.

• Key characters: Bruno, Shmuel, Gretel , Herr Liszt, mother (Elsa), father (Ralph), Lieutenant Kotler, Pavel, grandmother, grandfather, Maria (maid)

• Draw circles on your page to represent these characters and their relationship to each other.

• In each circle, write descriptive words/phrases and information about that character.

Shmuel Bruno

Learning Intention

• I can comment on the main concerns of the film, make inferences from key scenes and discuss my reaction to the text.

LIT 4-04a

What key themes and concerns about life are explored in the

film?

Theme Task

• Your task is to read the cards and decide which statements describe themes in ‘The Boy in Striped Pyjamas’.

• Discuss moments from the film that help us realise these themes.

What key themes and concerns about life are explored in the

film?• Children should not be made to suffer for the

mistakes of adults. • The unjust and indiscriminate mistreatment of the

Jews.• Prejudice is senseless and is a learned action

rather than automatic feeling. • Innocence and evil can exist side by side• The hope that friendship can overcome division. • Ignorance of the evil around us in the world can

lead to devastating and tragic consequences.

Learning Intention

• I can identify how the director uses media techniques to reveal the main themes and concerns of the text.

LIT 4-08a/ 4.18a

Essay Question

Choose a film that has an effective opening sequence. Describe what happens and then go on to describe how the sequence relates to the film as whole.

Chapter 1

Describe what is happening.

Name the technique and how it is being used.

What does this reveal about character, plot, setting, theme?

How does the viewer respond?

The opening credits “Childhood is measured out by sounds and smells and sights, before the dark hour of reason grows.”John Betjemen





The opening credits are playing

We see Bruno with his friends

Close up of the red from a Nazi flag as it pans out to reveal the whole of the flagMusic is in minor key

Contrast – music changes to major keyMovement – pretending to be airplanes – airplane noises

Symbolic of the danger that lies ahead – the dangerous and terrifying impact the Nazi party had on people – the blood on their hands combined with the music which sets an unsettling tone

Lack of awareness of children – naivety of Nazism They have seen fighter planes – aspire to be a part of the war

Evil and innocence and exist sided by side





Bruno runs past with his friends as people are being forced out of their homes and in to vans

Music again changes to minor keyLow-key lightingColours muted, browns and greysSound of dogs barking, soldiers dialogue of ”Move!”Direction – soldiers pushing the Jews out of their homesCamera stops tracking Bruno and focuses on scene of Jews





Introduction to Gretel

When Bruno arrives home he hears the news that they are moving

Long shot of Gretel in her roomProps of her playing with her dolls

Dialogue: Life is not so much about choices but about duty.”

Her innocence and youth, she is also unaware of the harsh reality of war – effective for the film as a whole because…

Children should not be made to suffer for the mistakes of adults

Chapter 5: 22 mins

Chapter 6: 29 mins

Chapter 10: 55 mins

Starter Task

Look at the notes that you made last lesson on the scene where Shmuel and Bruno meet in the kitchen.

Your task is to write a paragraph on this scene explaining what happens and how media techniques help the viewer to learn about character, relationships and themes.

Use the starter sentences on the board to help you with your paragraph.

Chapter 11: 1 hour 2 mins





Bruno begins his apology to Shmuel.

Camera shots of Bruno now also include the fence

1) Shows that Bruno is now aware of the divisions between them.

2) Shows the personal division between the boys as a result of Bruno’s betrayal.

3) Shows that Bruno is also victim of Nazi prejudice albeit in a different way.

Sadness that the boys’ friendship is being affected by decisions they have no control over.





Shmuel accepts Bruno’s apology.

Close up camera shot of the boys shaking hands.

Shows that theboys’ friendshipsurpasses thephysical divideAND the symbolicdivisions betweenthem.

Sense of happiness that the boys own goodness overcomes the prejudice around them. But also unease as the friendship surely can’t survive these odds?

Chapter 13: 1 hour 15 mins

We will revise how to plan and write an effective critical essay on ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’.

Learning Intention

Essay Question

How are the characters of Bruno and Shmuel and their relationship used to convey the main themes of ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’?

What is the aim of a critical essay?

What should be included in an effective critical essay?


Introduction:


For each Paragraph• S- State what aspect of character or the

relationship is being examined in this paragraph?

• T- How is this conveyed through media technique?

• A- Analysis of what this reveals about character, plot, setting, theme?

• R-How does the viewer respond?

Paragraph 1

Paragraph 2

Paragraph 3

Paragraph 4

Paragraph 5


Conclusion:

We can reflect on the film’s main themes and concerns.

What are we left thinking about the film’s key issues of division, prejudice, childhood, injustice at the end of the film?

Final Thoughts…

Learning Intention

We will understand how to write an effective paragraph analyzing media.

Studying Literature…• Studying a media text is similar to

the way that we study a literary text. • In a written text we look at how the

writer uses literary techniques such as word choice, imagery and sentence structure to convey the plot, characters, themes and mood

of a text to the reader.

Studying Media…

• In media texts we look at how the director has used the languages of media such as cameras, sound, music, mise en scene to best convey the plot, characters, themes and mood of the text to the audience.

Using S.T.A.R. for Media Texts• The statement is the introductory

sentence of a paragraph. It should include reference to the question & the scene being studied.

• The textual evidence for written texts would usually be the quotation. For Media texts, it involves a detailed description of how the media language is used.

• Analysis explains the effect created by the technique and how this develops the viewer's understanding of character, theme, atmosphere and so on...

• The response is the final sentence of the paragraph and must restate how the feelings of the viewer relate to the original question.

In the opening scene of the film the director, Mark Herman, introduces us to the main character. He is Bruno – a young boy of eight who lives in Nazi Berlin. We see the camera tracking Bruno playing with his friends in the streets with the mise en scene revealing the Nazi flags and swastikas in the background. The long shots of his movement pretending to be a plane combined with the close-up on Bruno’s laughing face makes it clear he is happy with his life and enjoys playing with his friends. However, as Bruno and his friends pass by the Jewish ghetto the camera remains on the Jews in their ragged and dirty clothing. The children playing is incongruous in the setting of Nazi Berlin and introduces the viewer to one of the key themes of the film, the sinister notion that evil co-exists with innocence in our daily lives. The audience wonders how this young boy can exist in a place that is associated with cruelty without being aware of its brutality.

• The relationship between the boys reaches its horrifying conclusion when Bruno enters the camp as an act of loyalty to help find Shmuel’s father. However, the director shows the viewer in a number of ways that the boys short-lived friendship is not to last. The mise en scene of the setting showing the growing storm symbolizes the danger facing the boys and also creates a darker and more ominous mood. As the boys are herded into the gas chamber, the director films at the eye level of the boys making it seem claustrophobic and highlighting their insignificance and vulnerabililty. Ultimately though, the director shows us that the boys’ deaths are insignificant as the final image of the film focuses on the door to the gas chamber and slowly tracks backwards to reveal the piles of abandoned clothing; each item representing a Jewish life lost to this dark period of history. The theme of the injustice of the Holocaust is made brutally clear in the final moments as the viewer realizes that the anguish they feel for just two boys should be felt for all 6 million Jewish deaths.

I will demonstrate the skills of writing a critical essay on media.

Learning Intention

starter task think back to watching ‘the boy in the striped pyjamas’. your task is to write down...

Documents

key themes

key characters

key moments

key scenes

main themes

main concerns

theme taskyour task

striped pyjamas