As my movie project I used The Miracle Worker, which I usually show in class, but had an inspiration about how to make it better. One of the things I try to get the student to focus on is that stage directions when reading a ply or a screen play. Especially in this piece, many of the scenes have little or no dialogue, but are mainly stage direction, i.e. the dining room scene. Therefore I cam up with a graphic organizer for the students to use while watching the movie. I asked them to note colors, levels of lighting, and music used in certain types of scenes. Then after the movie we would go back to the literature book, and I would have them look for those scenes, read the stage directions to see if the movie followed them. Whether or not they did, they should decide if the techniques used helped to portray mood or theme in the movie. I ask them if they think the director made good choices and if not, what would they have done to make the mood more evident. I will use this one again, but I may modify it.
Vicky J
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I like this idea. This is my second time teaching Romeo and Juliet and I like both movies so much even though they are so different. So I try to incorporate them both into my class. Usually what I do is show the '68 version scene by scene as we read in the book becaues, of course, Shakespeare was meant to be seen not read. Then, at the end of the unit, we was the new version and the students compare and contrast both movies to the text. However, you make a great point abou the stage direction. In order for the students to understand all the elements of a drama, they should pay close attention to the stage direction. Usually when they are reading, they just read right over the directions which makes it very confusing, especially if someone has left or entered or if they are fighting. For example, the other day, the students were reading the fight scene and in one moment, Mercutio was chatting/ fighting with Tybalt, and in the next moment, Mercutio is dead. They're heads all shot up and said, "huh?" So we went back and read the stage directions. I'm going to try your strategy of having them watch the scenes as they read the directions in the book. So simple. So great.
Vicky, I love this idea of comparing the text stage directions with the director/filmographer's interpretation on stage. We have compared stage and screen adaptations in drama before, but this is a great idea too for design. Send me a copy of your graphic organizer if possible. This is Colleen at GHS.
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