Lesson: Colour a Picture
In this lesson, students students learn about how visual media use colour. They compare black-and-white to colour photos and consider what colour “says,” then watch a short film and analyze the different ways it uses colour. They then consider the representation of skin colour in that video and how the two ideas of “colour” relate to one another. Finally, students choose how to colour a black-and-white photo to achieve a particular visual or emotional effect.
Grade range: 1-3
Teacher Material: https://textbook.mediasmarts.ca/blocks-teachertext/chapter/pleasantville/
Student Material: https://textbook.mediasmarts.ca/buildingblocks/chapter/pleasantville-2/
Time Frame
| One class period (30 minutes) | Two or three class periods (60-90 minutes) | Extended Unit | ||
| Activities |
Pleasantville Frames Colour in Movies Colourize a Photograph
|
Pleasantville Frames Colour in Movies Talking Colour Colourize a Photograph Wacky Media Songs
|
Pleasantville
Frames Colour in Movies Talking Colour Colourize a Photograph Wacky Media Songs: You Do You! |
Preparation:
- Make sure that you are able to show the embedded videos or that students are able to access the links.
Learning Outcomes
Big ideas/key concepts: Students will understand that…
Media are constructions
- Media makers make conscious choices about how to use media techniques, such as colour
Each medium has a unique aesthetic form
- Colour is an important rule of notice in visual media
Media have social and political implications
- Visual representations of diversity, including skin colour, influence how we see other and ourselves
Key questions:
- How do media makers choose to use colour?
- How does the way characters’ skin colour is shown affect how we see them and ourselves?
Essential knowledge: Students will know…
- Reading media: Different ways that media makers use colour to achieve particular effects
- Media representation: Words like “Black” and “White” may not match the actual colours of people’s skin, but instead describe where their families came from
- Making and remixing: Effective use of colour for particular effects in images
Essential vocabulary: Greyscale
Performance tasks: Students will be able to…
- Use: Colour an image to achieve an artistic or emotional effect
- Understand: Analyze the use of colour in images and videos
- Engage: Begin to consider the impact of representation in media
Curriculum Connections
Strand A: Literacy Connections and Applications
A2. Digital Media Literacy
A2.4 Forms, Conventions and Techniques
demonstrate an understanding of the forms, conventions, and techniques of digital and media texts, and apply this understanding when analyzing texts
A2.5 Media, Audience, and Production
demonstrate an understanding of the interrelationships between the form, message, and context of a text, the audience, and the creator
A2.6 Innovation and Design
use digital and media tools to support stages of the design process and to develop creative solutions to authentic, real-world problems
A2.7 Community and Cultural Awareness
communicate and collaborate with various communities in a safe, respectful, responsible, and inclusive manner when using online platforms and environments, including digital and media tools, and demonstrate cultural awareness with members of the community
A3. Applications, Connections and Contributions
A3.2 Identity and Community
demonstrate an understanding of the contributions, lived experiences, and perspectives of a diversity of individuals and communities, including those in Canada, by exploring the concepts of identity, self, and sense of belonging in culturally responsive and relevant texts
Strand C: Composition (Understanding and Responding to Texts)
C1 Knowledge About Texts
C1.2 Text Forms and Genres
Grade 1: identify simple literary and informational text forms and their associated genres
Grade 2: identify and describe some characteristics of literary and informational text forms and their associated genres
Grade 3: identify and describe some characteristics of literary and informational text forms and their associated genres
C1.4 Visual Elements of Texts
Grade 1: demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between simple illustrations, images, and graphics and the text
Grade 2: identify ways in which images, graphics, and visual design create, communicate, and contribute to meaning in a variety of texts
Grade 3: describe ways in which images, graphics, and visual design are used in a given text, and demonstrate an understanding of their purpose and connection to the content of the text
C1.5 Elements of Style
Grade 1: identify some simple elements of style in texts, including voice, word choice, word patterns, and sentence structure, and describe how they help communicate meaning
Grade 2: identify some simple elements of style in texts, including voice, word choice, word patterns, and sentence structure, and explain how they help communicate meaning
Grade 3: identify some elements of style in texts, including voice, word choice, word patterns, and sentence structure, and explain how they help communicate meaning
C3 Critical Thinking in Literacy
C3.2 Making Inferences
Grade 1: make simple inferences, using stated and implied information and ideas, to understand simple texts
Grade 2: make simple inferences using stated and implied information and ideas to understand simple texts
Grade 3: make inferences using stated and implied information and ideas to understand texts
C3.3 Analyzing Texts
Grade 1: analyze simple texts, including literary and informational texts, by identifying and sequencing important information and events
Grade 2: analyze simple texts, including literary and informational texts, by identifying and sequencing important information, and comparing and contrasting simple elements
Grade 3: analyze various texts, including literary and informational texts, by identifying main and supporting ideas, sequencing information, and comparing and contrasting elements
C3.4 Analyzing Cultural Elements of Texts
Grade 1: identify some cultural elements represented in various texts, including symbols and values, and explain how these elements contribute to the meaning
Grade 2: identify some cultural elements represented in various texts, including symbols, language, and values, and pose questions and share ideas about how these elements contribute to the meaning
Grade 3: identify some cultural elements represented in various texts, including symbols, language, and values, and pose questions and share ideas about how these elements contribute to the meaning
C3.5 Perspectives within Texts
Grade 1: identify explicit and implicit perspectives communicated in a text, and describe how these perspectives could influence an audience
Grade 2: identify explicit and implicit perspectives communicated in a text, providing evidence, and describe how these perspectives could influence an audience
Grade 3: identify explicit and implicit perspectives communicated in texts, providing evidence, and explain how these perspectives could influence an audience
C3.6 Analysis and Response
Grades 1-2: express personal thoughts and feelings about ideas presented in texts, such as ideas about diversity, inclusion, and accessibility
Grade 3: describe personal thoughts and feelings about ideas presented in texts, such as ideas about diversity, inclusion, and accessibility
Strand D: Composition (Expressing Ideas and Creating Texts)
D2 Creating Texts
D2.1 Producing Drafts
Grade 1: draft short, simple texts of various forms and genres, including personal narratives, persuasive texts, and procedural texts, using a variety of media, tools, and strategies
Grade 2: draft short texts of various forms and genres, including personal narratives, persuasive texts, and procedural texts, using a variety of media, tools, and strategies
Grade 3: draft short texts of various forms and genres, including narrative, persuasive, and informational texts, using a variety of media, tools, and strategies
A range of gray shades from white to black.