Frame as Story-Teller: Teacher Material
Explain to students that when we see or hear media, we usually think it’s like looking through a window. But all media works are actually inside a frame. This frame is what the media makers choose to show us.
Display or have students access the student chapter What’s in the Picture? and show the first two slides. Explain that the frame controls what we see and what we don’t. If we only saw the first photo, we might think the lion was in the savannah; with the wider frame in the second one we can see that it is in a zoo.
Next, show the third and fourth slides and explain that the frame can “look” in one direction or another. The first picture, looking towards the front of the stadium, makes it seem like the rally is full of people; the second one, pointing at the back of the stadium, makes it look empty. Neither of these is the “reality”: only by seeing both of them together do we see that the stadium was about half-full.
Point out to students that whose point of view we see things from can also affect how a story is told. Ask them to think about how the story of a typical day in their home might be told differently from the point of view of themselves, a sibling, parents or guardians, one of their pets, or a visiting space alien! (The lesson Once Upon a Time explores this idea in greater detail.)
Now show the fifth and sixth slide and explain that the frame controls time by showing us just some moments but not others. When we see a photo or video of someone shooting a basket, we don’t know whether they got it on the first or the hundredth time. Explain to students that every moment in a film or TV show is filmed many times, and that the director then chooses which of these “takes” to use in the final product.
- Point out to students that a story can also be frame by the order in which the story is told. Media makers often don’t tell you everything right away, then “flash back” to show you events from earlier in time.
- Can students think of examples of flashbacks in media?
- What media techniques are often used to show that a scene is a flashback? (For example, a blurry transition from the previous scene in video; a caption such as “Five years earlier”; a shot of a character looking thoughtful before the flashback.)
Now show the seventh slide and explain that framing can be used to show you when something is important. Which of these shots tells you that the keys are definitely important, and which one tells you that they might be important?
- Ask students to think of other media techniques that tell us that we should pay attention to something. Some possible examples include how long we see something for, whether music or sound effects play when we see something, and where in the frame something is.
Ask students: What are some other things that frame media?
Here are some examples to prompt their thinking:
Sound is often added to video. Even when you see people talking in a movie or TV show, what you’re hearing may have been recorded later.
Music also “frames” a story by telling us how a scene should “feel”: light, bouncy music tells us a scene is fun and funny, while loud, brassy music tells us it’s exciting.
Computer graphics, special effects and filters are added to pictures and video or used to change them.
Some media, like cartoons and video games, don’t start with a real image at all! Everything is the result of the media maker’s decisions.
Now ask: is it possible to be “inside” a frame in real life?
- Museums and amusement parks “frame” what you see and hear to give you the best experience. Grocery stores do that too: companies pay to have their products put in places where shoppers will notice them. That’s why cereal for kids is always on the bottom or middle shelf, where kids will see it.