Dan+Priest

=**[Adaptation: Screenplays and Film in the Classroom]**=

Dan Priest Kalamazoo, Michigan

[Intended for technology-enabled schools, but has the ability to be adapted for any socio-economic situation. Grade and tracking depends on the content of the novel.]
 * Grade Band:** 11-12
 * Time Span:** 3 weeks

**Overview**
In the weeks leading up to this unit, the class will be reading **//Q & A//**, a novel by Vikas Swarup (the text used can be interchangeable, just as long as an available screenplay can be found for the next part of the unit). Students will respond to the book in different ways—through art, quizzes, vocabulary, culture studies, analysis—though the teaching of the literature should stay fairly traditional, in counterpoint to this unit. At the beginning of the unit, students will read Simon Beaufoy’s treatment of //**Slumdog Millionaire**//, an adaptation that is loosely based upon //**Q & A**//. Many of the main decisions that go into a script are what elements of the story are strong enough to stay in the movie, and what plot points can be excised. Storyboarding is the next step, and students will draw from the book and the script to complete their own versions of certain scenes. Following that, **//Slumdog Millionaire//** is shown and discussed. It is judged not only by its story, but how other elements, like cinematography and music, were able to adapt the ‘spirit’ of the original novel. At the last, students work in different modes to produce an adaptation of their own, challenging their creativity.

**From Theory to Practice**
This unit will be about our potential as readers and writers. We have a unique vision of what it is that we read, and there are several ways to tap into that individual experience to better our understanding of the text, as Jeffrey Wilhelm has discovered throughout his work, especially in //**[|You Gotta BE the Book]**//. Adaptation is very personal; most movies based on outside material will not be accepted by a minority (or majority) of people because it does not meet their mental expectations, and is therefore an abomination of the original. Students will feel the endless possibilities—and frightening responsibilities—of adapting work for the screen. John Golden’s //**[|Reading in the Dark]**// explains the significance of film in the ELA classroom; he identifies how to apply the strategies of watching movies to the strategies of watching books by not treating movies in the classroom as a treat. There is a separate writing process—or thinking process—involved in remixing existing material. Students will experience three different versions of the “same” story, each displayed through a different mode. The unique visions of author, screenwriter, and director define their respective versions… showing students the importance of voice.

**Student Objectives**
- Create personal meaning from genre writing - Interpret the literary actions of an author - Understand basic film terminology - Objectively compare two or more works - Use technology to craft something new, something different - Understand the responsibility of handling another’s work - Differentiate between good and bad adaptations - Comprehend the differences between good writing and good filmmaking

//**[|Michigan Content Expectations]**//

 * CE** 1.1.3, 1.1.4, 1.2.1, 1.2.2, 1.2.3, 1.3.1, 1.3.5, 1.3.7, 1.3.9, 1.5.1, 1.5.3, 1.5.4, 1.5.5
 * CE** 2.1.1, 2.1.8, 2.1.9, 2.2.2, 2.3.2, 2.3.6, 2.3.7
 * CE** 3.1.5, 3.1.6, 3.1.7, 3.1.8, 3.1.9, 3.2.1, 3.2.5, 3.3.6, 3.4.1, 3.4.2, 3.4.3
 * CE** 4.1.5, 4.2.1, 4.2.2

=**Instructional Plan Overview**=

**Resources**
- //**Q & A**//, by Vikas Swarup - //**[|Slumdog Millionaire]**//, by Simon Beaufoy - **//Slumdog Millionaire//** **[DVD]** - camcorder - television - projector (if available) - pens/pencils/paper - internet access - computers (or lab access) - film software (iMovie, Windows Movie Maker, Final Cut Pro, **Adobe Creative Suite**) - various DVDs

**Teacher Preparation**
This unit follows on the heels of a traditional literature unit; in this case, a few weeks were spent reading and analyzing //**Q & A**//. Without incorporating a book, this unit turns into one simply about the film process, and not about the changes inherent in adaptation.

To teach this unit you must be confident in your knowledge of the film industry. You may allow tutorial videos to do some of the teaching for you, but you are not serving your students well by not understanding yourself the role of the cinematographer, the formatting of a screenplay, how to use editing software, etc. You must become literate in filmmaking ... take the time to immerse yourself in an appreciation for film by watching, writing, doing. Use the software before your students so you can catch any problems before they arise during class time.

Depending on the central film/text, you will need to get parental permission for watching the movie. The grade and tracking can easily be changed along with the main text, but considering the "mature themes" and 'R' rating, //**Q & A**// and //**Slumdog Millionaire**// can only be feasibly approved by parents later in the high school years. For those students who do not get permission, a suitable (but sensually subtler) text/screenplay/movie should be provided to be worked along concurrently with the rest of the class.

**Lesson Plans**

 * Unit Schedule ...** [[file:unit schedule.pdf]]


 * Lesson 1.1 ...** [[file:adaptation 1.1.pdf]]


 * Lesson 1.2 ...** [[file:adaptation 1.2.pdf]]


 * Lesson 1.3 ...** Group peer review; final draft due next day. [[file:group conferencing guide]]


 * Lesson 1.4 ...** Introduction to storyboarding; practice with poetry. [[file:storyboarding.pdf]]

- Was it easy or difficult to imagine the story as written by the screenwriter? - Ask the students to explain what they were experiencing while reading the screenplay; whether it was confusing to follow the camera angles, or not detailed enough to create the setting or character in the mind. - Explain what storyboards are—how they fit into the process of a film’s production, how a director uses them, when they are most commonly used, etc. Use a video (like [|this] ) as a companion piece. - Use examples from popular movies (DVDs occasionally have storyboard featurettes) to show students that many successful directors rely on these drawings, and that many of the finished film sticks quite close to these preplanned shots. - As an example, draw your own interpretation of a brief scene in S//lumdog Millionaire//, explaining to the class why you chose those specific angles.
 * Example Discussion**

//[Grammar minilesson incorporated with lesson on conceptual design.]//
 * Lesson 1.5 ...** [[file:adaptation 1.5.pdf]]


 * Lesson 2.1 ...** Finish storyboards; share within groups, class.


 * Lessons 2.2, 2.3, 2.4 ...** [[file:adaptation 2.2.pdf]]


 * Lesson 2.5 ...** Expectations for final project; pre-writing activity. Minilesson on sound design.

//[Pre-writing activity incorporated with minilesson on cinematography.]
 * Lessons 3.1, 3.2, 3.3 ...** [[file:adaptation 3.1.pdf]]

[For 3.2]// - Students are asked to draw the room in which Ram sleeps in Agra. Using the details in the book and the film’s visual influence, students should be able to imagine something that is akin to what Swarup had intended. - Explore the internet and books to find pictures of such habitats, giving students an idea of how to realize the fictional building with realistic elements. Have them decide what kind of items would be in the room—whether implied in the text or not. Volunteers can show their designs to the class, explaining their decisions. - Using production design featurettes from various DVDs, show the class the amount of detail and creativity needed to create an environment out of nothing. Explain how a film succeeds mainly through the efforts of people like the production designer, who make sure to maintain the director’s vision by embracing their own. ** [For 3.3] ** - Show the first flashback from //Slumdog Millionaire//, without sound. Ask students about the kind of music they would expect to hear at this time, how could music set the scene? Show the clip again, this time with the sound on so that A.R. Rahman’s “O… Saya” is heard clearly. Have students talk amongst themselves about the effectiveness of the song’s layers. - Hold a general discussion about music in film—from movies with full orchestral scores like //Star Wars//, to those that rely heavily on popular music like //Garden State//. What emotions do they add to the movie? What does the music say about the characters? Can you identify a movie based solely on the music used? - Using brief clips from various films, create a compilation to show to students that shows the effective and memorable inclusion of score/song in film. Examples include: //Jaws//, //E.T.//, //The Fountain//, //Love Actually//, //Pulp Fiction//, //The Dark Knight//, and //Psycho//. Discuss the importance of a main theme—the musical melody that is forever connected to its movie, like Indiana Jones—and how a different composer, a different song can change the mood and quality of the overall production.
 * Minilesson: Production Design
 * Minilesson: Soundtracks


 * Assignment Sheet ...** [[file:final project.doc]] **... [[file:sliding rubric.pdf]] **


 * Lessons 3.4, 3.5 ...** Project presentations; peer response and self-reflection. [[file:self-reflection]]

Additional Information
- Use [|this presentation] that I created to get an understanding of how students will respond to this unit, and how multimedia (like films) have influenced this response. Links within lead to software resources and other multimodal teaching tools. - Free open source software is available at [|SourceForge.net] ... explore what the internet has to offer before petitioning your school to purchase the Adobe Creative Suite. Professional software is the best, but there can be some small tools floating around out there that can be beneficial. - Find videos online that you want to use in your class? Use [|MediaConverter] to save the video (YouTube, etc.) to your computer, and combine them into your own personal montage.

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