Film Review Twilight

Film Review

Agenda  What is a review?  Background knowledge about film making  Different genres of films  Using adjectives to describe films  Activity: Think-Pair-Share  Roundtable: Criteria for a good show  Setting/ Characters/ Theme/ Narration  Analysis the film: Twilight  Linguistic features of writing a review

What is a Review? A review is a report in the newspaper,

magazine, or on a website, that gives the writer’s opinion of a movie or some other item of interest

Film making  Running Time: the amount of time it takes a

viewer to watch the film from beginning to end.  Performers: Stars / supporting characters / extras  Stars: best well-known actors who play the leading role in the film  Supporting characters: playing supporting roles in the film  Extra: occupy the smallest amount of screen time

Camera Movement 1. Pans A movement which scans a scene horizontally, often use to follow a moving object which is kept in the middle of the frame.

2. Tilts A movement which scans a scene

vertically, otherwise similar to a pan.

3. Dolly Shots  The camera is placed on a moving vehicle and moves alongside the action, generally following a moving figure or object.  A dolly shot may be a good way of portraying movement, the journey of a character for instance, or for moving from a long shot to a close-up, gradually focusing the audience on a particular object or character.

Dolly Shots

Shot Length 1 . Extreme long shot  It normally shows an EXTERIOR, eg the outside of a building, or a landscape, and is often used as the opening shot in a news story and to show scenes of thrilling action eg in a war film or disaster movie.

2. Long Shot  This includes the FULL SHOT showing

the entire human body, with the head near the top of the frame and the feet near the bottom.

3. Medium Shot  Contains a figure from the knees/waist up and is normally used for dialogue scenes, or to show some detail of action. Background detail is minimal.

4. Close-Up  This shot magnifies the object and shows the importance of things. The close-up takes us into the mind of a character. A film-maker may use this to make us feel extra comfortable or extremely uncomfortable about a character.

5. Extreme Close-Up  an extreme version of the close up, generally magnifying beyond what the human eye would experience in reality.

Different genres of the film  Western  Musical  Thriller  Action Comedy  Romance  Action Film  Special Effects film  Horror

Adjectives  We can use these adjectives to describe films.  Which ones are positive (+) and which ones are

negatives?  Boring   Brilliant   Dull   Entertaining  Horrifying  Exciting

Funny Romantic Scary  Violent  Sentimental  Overly violent

Think-Pair-Share 1. Which genre you like best? Why? 2. Which is your favorite movie? 3. What made the movie so enjoyable?

Use 3 minutes to think and write down the answers in your note-book Pairs of students read and discuss their responses. (3 mins)

Roundtable Discuss the criteria of a good show 4 Students per group and divide yourself into different roles: Organizer/ Recorder / Checker / Presenter the first student in each group writes one response on a paper and passes the paper counterclockwise to the next student.

Do you think “Twilight” is a good show?

Analysis the film: Twilight  Genre  Plot Summary  Setting  Characters: Bella Swan, Edward Cullen  Theme  Narration  Colors  Twilight and traditional vampire story  Comment

Setting  The setting of the story is its background,

1. 2. 3. 4.

location in time and space and ultimately, its atmosphere. It is used to reflect the mood of the film/ story. Where is it set? At home? Outside? Etc. What can you see here? What does it feel like here? Hot/Cold? What is the weather like? What so special about it?

Foggy, rural woodlands of the rainy state of Washington

Characters  You can comment / describe a character based 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

on the following items: Straight description (visualise the character) Clothes, Manner and habit Dialogues and actions Relationships with other characters The way they do things

Bella Swan 17-year-old from Phoenix Very pale (skin color) She’s going to live with her dad, Charlie, the local chief of

police Came from a devoice family Very interested in Edward ; first meet him in a Biology lesson  love at first sight Moody but intelligent

Edward Cullen Charming, quiet and compassionate

Theme The theme of a story is its main idea and

can often be expressed as an abstract noun, for example, revenge, truth, love, the source of true happiness and so on Activity

Theme of alienation Both Edward and Bella are outsiders, they are very different from the others Bella: just came from Phoenix ; unlike her classmates, she didn’t like going to parties; she didn’t like rainy days Edward: he is a vampire, very different from the others; he and his family keep to themselves; having odd habit of never eating; unlike other vampires, he drinks animal’s blood; he chooses a human (Bella) to be a lover

Theme of Love Love is… Strong positive emotion of regard and affection Acceptance (both good and bad things) Experience happiness Is the love between Bella and Edward sounds normal? Why/ Why not?  Transcendent Love: “About three things I was absolutely positive. First, Edward was a vampire. Second, there was a part of him, and I didn’t know how dominant that part might be, that thirst for my blood, And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him”  1. 2. 3. 

Narrative Techniques Technique 1st person narrative

3rd person narrative

Beginning at the end

Function(s) Involves the reader in the narrator’s personal story; tell the reader the narrator’s personal thoughts Retells the action from the point of view of an all-knowing narrator; thoughts of all characters included Used to stimulate interest in the reader

Colors Color and lighting design extend the

dramatic and emotional effect of the film Hard, blue light is used throughout the film Feelings: violent of the vampire/ ghostly effect/ gloomy feeling/ subtlety/ darkness inside us

Facts and Fiction about Vampires http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=U7RH1_KdQvk&feature=related  The vampire: a huge bat; a beautiful woman, sometimes, a man with a mania for sucking human life-blood.  Lives in a castle sleep in a coffin, near a graveyard  Appearance: purplish and dark in color; had long fingernails  Easily attacked by sacred items like garlic, holy water, bible or the cross

Languages Features  Use of technical vocabulary - Genre - People involved in the creation of the work - Oscar-nominated; Oscar-winning; Commercial film  Use of adjectives: to describe the work itself, its

characters and players etc. Adjectives give the reader the reviewers’ opinion on what the experience is like  Use of Simple Present Tense: to describe the action in the work