Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Turn one of the statements below into a thesis for your exam essay, then create a one-page rough outline to bring into your exam and submit it to Monsieur the Lobb.

When we rise up to challenge God as a creator, we become Monsters.

Definition of a monster is tied to INVERSION and PERVERSION of the Natural Order - i.e. you are here, and someone else is there and that’s the way it’s supposed to be

rejection by society = monster 

Power creates monsters. 

Ambition and lust for power creates monsters

Need creates monsters

Monstrousness is here in us all the time - our drives inside that we allow to push out into the world.

Consider the below in making your essay preparations:

Thesis

There is a statement you will make that will have “sides” to it.  There will be something that you need to prove - it is an argument - a statement that may or may not be true until it is proven so. 

In the thesis below, there is another side - i.e. that we become Monsters by birth, or by mental disorder, or by manipulation or what have you

If you take this one, you need to SHOW HOW the rising up to challenge God results in some behaviour or decision-making that could be defined as monstrous

When we rise up to challenge God as a creator, we become Monsters.

Body

Frankenstein

What are elements of the story that reveal Victor (or another character) challenging God? 

Can I pick a couple? Can I describe them briefly? 

Can I then illustrate them with a simple quotation that shows I didn’t make this up. 

WHAT HAPPENS AS A RESULT OF THE ABOVE THAT SHOWS YOUR THESIS IS TRUE

Macbeth 

Consider the explanation as the bulk of your body paragraphs

What is explanation? 

Showing connections

Mr. Lobb is a terrible teacher. 

He pushed Laine’s desk! And he was mean!

How does the pushing of Laine’s desk demonstrate that he is a bad teacher? What is the link between desk-pushing and bad teaching? 

You need to show how ONE THING = ANOTHER THING through finding the reasoning and exploring it

Conclusion

Tuesday, June 9, 2015

The Last Weekish

1. If you owe me work, you will be getting no more feedback, unless it is a KEY assignment and you tell me why you need that feedback. 
2. Prepare your exam questions - why don’t YOU do it? If Mr. Lobb is making our exam, it will be so hard and mean on purpose that we will cry and vomit simultaneously. It actually happened. Worth 20-30% on its own. 
3. The FrankenAss is a valuable ass because it falls on the end of the semester. 
4. You need to make absolutely certain that your best essay on Macbeth is in before Friday. (20%)
5. The media assignments (2) are short, but they are good to boost your mark. 

Isolation movie - documentary movie

The Big Four - plot, setting, character, theme

An engagement piece - some kind of assignment, activity, game, something that would have been handed out to students if you were teaching this to them - then you answer it

Symbolic or meaningful “text to world” connections

Movie Review - 

Watch and analyse with an eye towards those elements we discussed:

character arc

story structure

camera work

lighting

sound and music

editing

plot

setting

character 

theme

meaning and message - re: the outsider

Documentary review

Watch and consider how the filmmaker manipulates you

Discuss your opinion 

Discuss the issue in general

Give your overall on the topic AND the way the filmmaker presented it

traveling

How do you make an Exam? 

There are many parts that could chosen for an average ENG exam, but we want to focus on the best parts: the questions that do not require memory or rote learning. 

Why and How are better than Who, What, Where and When. 

Why do teachers use those lower order questions - basic memory? 

Teachers are finding out if you actually read the material and SMACKING you if you didn’t. 

ie Macbeth spotting test

What would be a higher order *thinking* way to ask a question that requires one think about the lines of a play and then respond with intelligence? 

Line - character, why and context

All this higher order thinking is more “mark intensive” - in that each question will generate more marks and require more thinking and more writing

Some teachers generate multiple choice with very similar answers that require a real test of the thinking, but are essentially still memory

In this class we won’t use matching, multiple choice, single word answer, definition-only or simple recall questions. 

You should be able to use a textbook if you want one. 

Or, you should be able to bring some preparation *of some sort*

I’m not testing memory, I’m testing your ability to think and produce the reasoning for that thinking. 

The application of the material is more important. 

There are steps in writing about the book:

Reading

Incorporating into your head

Talking about the material from the book

Writing about the book in class

Doing some work on that book. 

Applying that information properly on the exam, under test conditions. 

The Exam Model

Short Mark Grabbers that Build Confidence

(3 marks each, pretty easy, little bit of recall and some application of thinking) 

15 - 20 marks at the most

Classic Example - definition plus example, or character explanation

I always accept point form with these (and many teachers do not)

The Basic Exam Question (5 mark questions) (25 marks)

These are standard, and they are a mix of application, communication and memory. 

What many do not know is that these questions can have a pattern for guaranteed marks. 

The Pattern - you may not use all five in a row, you might use a COMBO

Intro

Definition

Example

Explain 

Evaluate

The question will give you a hint as to how to combine the above five elements. 

A Little More Creative or Analytical 

Often, you will be asked to respond to a piece of writing. 

In this section, there will be the obvious answering of questions that come from the reading - COMPREHENSION, but there might also be something you have to do that is a writing assignment in brief 

*descriptive paragraph* *poetry response* *interpretation of some element of art or poetry* or in some cases, even more creative - write a poem, a piece of short story, etc

In Lobb’s class, this is a perfect opportunity to get students to analyse and poem and respond with something creative of their own. Especially thematically 

Plath - Bukowski - Ginsberg - Gary Snyder - Ferlinghetti

The responses for this section would be a real mix - 2-3 markers up to 7-8 markers. 

Usually at the end is the “big” response wherein students will “do something” 

If you are bold and saucy, you could easily read a short story in this space. 

The Essay is the biggest, baddest molly folly on the exam

Half of the exam marks will likely be the essay. However, Lobb do things different.

Rough outline will be marked - you sit down, do a skeleton of your essay for 10 marks. 

Sp and Gr will get a separate mark - Style - 10 marks

Content/Application of Knowledge of the Material - 10-15 marks

Communication/Essay Structure - 10 - 15 marks 

What will this essay be? 

A comparison of some sort - Frank and Mac - it will be assigned in advance and you can do whatever prep you like, but you may bring into the exam ONLY a piece of rough outline on one page that is specifically for your essay 

Documentary - 

What are you doing for this assignment? 

Short piece - 1 page is good 350 - 500 words

You will think about the editorial point of view and how it influences your own 

Documentaries are about manipulation of the viewer to effect a specific opinion shift

How does the filmmaker(s) manipulate you in the viewing? 

What is your response? Why?

What is the issue and how does this issue get presented?/ 

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Production

Sound and Music 

sound - enhanced sound is common in movies - realistic sound is, in fact, not helpful for the most part

this exaggeration somehow gives us a better sense of the physicality of the action

Foley is one example

Sound design - Ben Burtt - Star Wars

Music IS emotion in a movie - it’s particularly important in bad movies - CRUCIAL

Camera Work

Shots

good shots are shots we notice because the POV is interesting, surprising, scary, etc

Good shots stand out and have a “designed” look to them sometimes

There are rules to a shot - one rule - Rule of Thirds, however, breaking it can be good too

Focal Length

ELS - all context and environment - a vista - scenery - character is tiny in the landscape

LS - showing action - the characters are doing something in a place

Master - the most important shot it filmmaking - one shot of an entire scene done from a distance away to show the characters in the space, doing something in one continuous go - this is the TIMER for a scene and the trunk to which you would cut in the close ups and cutaways

MS - medium shot - often a two-shot - knees up - show body movements

CU - ribs up, shows faces and expressions - THIS IS WHERE THE ACTING HAPPENS

ECU - no context and environment - distorting

Angles

How does the camera aim at the subject? Straight on can be boring. Eye height can be boring. Variance here can make a shot MUCH more interesting and appealing. 

Consider 360 degrees and vertical angles as well. 

Lighting

if you notice it, it’s probably good. 

if you don’t, it’s probably good (unless you don’t notice it and it should be cool to help create mood and atmosphere)

Colour, amount of light, pools of darkness and brightness in variance

Mise-en-scene - the things in the frame - what is in the frame is designed and placed there for effect - props, set pieces, characters, etc - every shot is planned and set up.

Acting

• realism of the character
• charm and charisma
• the right look - H’wood stars are genetic freaks
• the part has to match the actor
• chemistry in pairings and groups

Editing - 

• the cutting of shots into scenes and sequences
• every time there’s a new shot, that’s a decision made by an editor
• cutting shots properly is when the actual movie is made
• every cut is a tiny slice of a moment that is selected as the best slice
• Michael Bay is hated for his crazy editing and pacing (Transformers) (or not)

Themes

- same as poetry, short stories and novels - there are underlying ideas that the filmmakers are thinking about