This Week's Activities:
Instructions are in RED
Reminder - All those Lexia users should be logging on from home and working through those level now. Its an ideal opportunity to improve your reading and spelling skills. Lets get to that level 18.
Activities for Week Beginning 29th June
Click here to go straight to the relevant day's activities:
1. Monday's Literacy Activities
2. Tuesday's Literacy Activities
3. Wednesday's Literacy Activities
4. Thursday's Literacy Activities
5. Friday's Literacy Activities
Monday 29th June
Writing:
Film Trailer Voiceover
This Literacy task will be done on Monday and Friday in class, so you might want to spread this out over the two days at home. I will add an extra element to it on Friday.
We are going to look at another kind of persuasive writing this week, one where the limited choice of words can really draw the viewer in and help persuade them to go and see a film.
1. The Background:
Film trailers are an essential part off the film industry - they can help decide whether a film will be well attended or not. The film-makers will take cuts of the film and reorganise them (usually not in the order of the actual plot), to create an often dramatic 'teaser' as to what the film will be like.
Here's a great little film about a voice you may recognise..
What Does the Voice-over talk about ?
It is essential you do not tell the audience the story details, but give them a taste of the film - a feeling of what you want them to expect: excitement, mystery, terror, suspense, sadness, romance, inspiration, awe, wonder, a happy, heart-warming feeling, or a roller-coaster ride of all these emotions.
The voice-over does not describe the actual events on the screen. You are not describing the pictures you are seeing as a story.
You are describing themes, ideas, characters involved and emotions you may feel.
2. Can I have a look at some voice-overs so I know what you mean?
Of course: I have searched for some classic film trailers with great voice-overs, and created some mini-mp4 files so you can have a look. The 80s and 90s were a great period of classic voice-over trailers. At the moment, it is fashionable for many trailers to use more snippets of actual dialogue from the film throughout the trailer - but a voice-over can allow you to add a more ideas to persuade the audience.
Trailer 1: Trailer 2 Trailer 3
3. Key Learning
Click the clapperboard below for a voiceover example
This is an interesting voiceover sample - where someone has actually made this example voiceover to show their skills. There are no moving pictures, but concentrate on how they organise their lines:
1. They introduce who is bringing you the film - the studio company and the director.
2. They set the scene by talking about the place where the plot takes place using dramatic vocabulary.
(e.g. In a world of ancient magic and mystery, a world where the voices of the past shape the hopes of the future...)
3. They introduce the character and give you an idea of the hardships or adventures they will face.
(e.g. A boy with an unknown power. A family with a terrible secret. His bravery and willingness to risk everything will be tested to their limits.)
4. They use some persuasive lines, and emotive words, to make sure you know what an experience this film will be.
(e.g. Join them in the quest of loyalty and love - walk with them through landscapes of mystery and share their awe and wonder.)
5. They tell you when it's available to watch.
(e.g. Coming to a cinema near you in autumn 2020)
4. How to Write Your Voice-over:
A key skill is to summarise the film in a dramatic way, without telling the story in detail.
We have looked at summarising when we worked on The Tempest in the autumn term.
It is esential you do not describe the exact events happening in the trailer - you are creating something more creative about the film as a whole, and trying to create an interest in the watcher to see the whole film.
Try to match the idea of what you are saying to different images in the trailer.
For example, if the trailer shows a character running frantically, don't just say, 'She is running frantically'.
You might say 'Join her in a desperate struggle to bring justice back to her world.' It's the running which creates the idea of desperation.
Here's a useful mini-checklist to create your voiceover:
1. Describe the main, over-arching theme or idea of the film.
2. Stick to the very essential ideas about the clips you can see onscreen but don't describe the action.
3. Avoid going into small details - we don't need to know what time the dinosaur attacks the truck.
4. You can use rhetorical questions to get the watcher asking questions in their head about the film.
e.g. Will there ever be a more terrifying, heart stopping adventure like this one? Can you afford to miss this cinematic event of the decade?
5. A trailer voice-over is allowed to break some grammar rules !
You may use phrases which aren't strictly sentences - you may miss out the verb telling us what's happening/happened.
e.g. " A planet in an unknown galaxy. An alien race on the verge of extinction. Join us on an adventure amongst the stars, where an ancient war rages in the depths of space. "
Can you see how the two coloured phrases don't actually make sense if you say them on their own.
But in the context of watching a film trailer, you can understand that they are introducing you to a place, a story or a theme.
.
5. Task:
Your Film Which Needs a Voice-over
Write a voice over for one of these two films today. Read how to do it above and listen to the voiceover examples.
Don't forget to read your voice-over over the trailer while it plays.
If you don't know what happens in the film, or you haven't seen it, IT DOESN'T MATTER - create a dramatic voice over about what you think the film will be about.
It would be more creative and fun if you could write a voiceover to completely change the idea of the original films.
You have 2 to choose from:
(there was a problem with trailer 2, but this was fixed at 10:50 am Monday)
Film Trailer Choice 1 Film Trailer Choice 2
If you want to download this lesson - click here for a pdf document.
Tuesday 30th June
1. Reading Comprehension
This week, we are going to find out about everyone's favourite past-time: eating chocolate.
But where did it come from?
Who invented it?
How old is it?
We'll find out all the answers today in this comprehension.
It is probably very very important that you nibble on some chocolate as you are reading this and answering questions... but it wasn't me that told you this, okay ?
1. For Everyone,
Download the comprehension text and questions here
Answer the questions in your book in full sentences - the answers will be posted tomorrow.
Wednesday 1st July
1. Reading:
Task 1: Mark Your Comprehension
1. For Everyone -
Download the chocolate answers here
2. Punctuation and Grammar:
Task 2: Play the Spacesuit Mystery Grammar Quiz
I've found a great grammar puzzle activity today to further revise our grammar knowledge today.
Follow the instructions from the pdf and build up a picture of the culprit, using the character sheet to help.
There is one part of the quiz relating to the 'passive' voice - so be sure to tell your parents we have done this lots of times this year in class.
Remember, it's a way of focusing the importance in the sentence onto the thing which is doing anything (in fact, it's having someything done to it)
A good example is this :
Active voice: John turned the tap on quickly.
becomes
Passive Voice: The tap was turned on quickly by John.
Click here for your Spacesuit Grammar Mystery
(I'll put an answer sheet up tomoroow)
Thursday 2nd July:
Task 1: Mark Your Grammar from Yesterday
Check to see if your grammar from yesterday is correct.
Click here for your grammar answers and the culprit of the spacesuit robbery.
1. Writing
Using Vocabulary in Correct Context
Task 2:
Our vocabulary this week, comes from our bridge building and chocolate comprehension.
Make sure you challenge yourself and learn the meaning of some newer words or ones you find tricky to spell.
Choose wisely and challenge yourself - this is a great chance to level up that library of words in your head for future use.
Your task:
1. Choose 6 words (challenge yourself) from the list below.
.- you can use either of the two versions.
2. Write down the word, followed by what it means - its definition. Get used to using a real dictionary if you have one - if you haven't got one at homee, you could use an online dictionary.
Challenge 1:
Write a sentence using the word in its correct context.- so it makes sense in the situation you are writing about and you are using the correct meaning of the word.
Challenge 2:
Write a complex sentence, using linking punctuation ( ; - :), and using the word in its correct context.
Challenge 3:
When you have finished writing the definitions, include as many of the words as you can in one short paragraph. This week's theme is 'a dramatic event'.
Obviously, you will be using a full range of punctuation (ESPECIALLY COLONS THIS WEEK) , to help really say what you mean to say.
| tension / tense | compression / compress | suspension /suspense |
| struts | pulp | currency |
| valuable | ingredients | significance |
| language | symbolic / symbolise | marriage |
Friday 3rd July:
Writing: Creative vocabulary starter
Let's flex those vocabulary and sentence muscles again. How many words can you make using the letters from the word below. Each letter can only be used once, but letters can be placed in any order.
Who will make the longest word, and who will make the most words?
S P O R T S D A Y
Writing Skills :
Does the Music Affect Your Voice-over Decisions?
After your fantastic voiceover work on Monday, you are going to go back to the trailer you chose to write for, and watch it again with new music. This may completetly alter the way you feel your voiceover should be written.
Task:
It will change the idea of the film for the viewer, so you need to write a new voice-over to fit this new , updated trailer.
When you have completed it, have a look at the two versions and see just how different they are - the music can really affect the feel of the whole trailer and give a completetly new impression of what the film may be like.
Do this carefully:
- What will you change?
- Does the pace of your voice-over need to change (more serious, urgent, or slower and more thoughtful)?
- Does the idea of the story you wish to portray alter with the new music: does it suggest a more dramatic, desperate story, or a more poignant, gentle story?
Here's The old trailer from Monday with the new , updated one I've created for today's task:
Old Trailer Choice 1 Old Trailer Choice 2
New Trailer Choice 1 New Trailer Choice 2
