Lesson: The Construction Crew
In this lesson, students start to think about media as constructions and learn about some of the people involved in making them. Activities focus on Foley work as an example and students are given the opportunity to do it themselves.
Grade range: 1-3
Teacher Material: https://textbook.mediasmarts.ca/blocks-teachertext/chapter/who-does-what-2/
Student Material: https://textbook.mediasmarts.ca/buildingblocks/chapter/who-does-what/
Time Frame
| One class period (45-60 minutes) | Two or three class periods (90-120 minutes) | Extended Unit |
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| Activities | Introduction
What is a Foley Artist Making Noises (in-class option ) Sound Effects
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Introduction
The Construction Crew What is a Foley Artist Making Noises (in-class option) Sound Effects |
Introduction
The Construction Crew What is a Foley Artist Making Noises (media production option) Sound Effects |
Preparation:
- Make sure that you are able to show the embedded videos or that students are able to access the links.
- If you are delievering the media production option, familiarize yourself with a few simple editing programs or apps. For a comprehensive list, visit AlternativeTo.net.
Learning Outcomes
Big ideas/key concepts: Students will understand that…
Media are constructions:
- Media works were made many people who made choices that affect the final work
Each medium has a unique aesthetic form:
- Different media communicate in different ways and using different codes and conventions
Key questions:
- How do different people work together to make media?
- What are some of the different jobs in media making?
- What choices do people in those different jobs make?
- How do their choices affect what we see, hear and feel?
Essential knowledge: Students will know…
- Reading media: Many parts of a media text, such as sound effects, are carefully chosen and created for specific effects
- Making and remixing: Foley artists use many different techniques to achieve particular sounds and sound effects
- Key vocabulary: Foley artist
Performance tasks: Students will be able to…
- Name and identify different jobs in media
- Explain what Foley artists do and some of the choices they make
- Analyze a scene from the point of view of a Foley artist and collaborate to create and perform sound effects
- Reflect on the roles that different people played in creating memorable media experiences
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
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
C2 Comprehension Strategies
C2.3 Monitoring of Understanding: Making and Confirming Predictions
Grade 1: make predictions using background knowledge, text features, and evidence from the text
Grade 2: make predictions using background knowledge, text features, and evidence from the text
Grade 3: make predictions using background knowledge, text features, and evidence from the text, and adjust their understanding based on new information
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 Foley artist makes sounds that go with the images in a media work such as a movie, a TV show or a video game.
Have your class list fairy tales such as Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Snow White, Jack and the Beanstalk. Make sure that each story has at least two characters who are opposed to one another (Riding Hood and the Wolf; Cinderella and her stepmother; Jack and the giant, etc.)
- Encourage students to share fairy tales that they are familiar with, including ones that are not traditional European fairy tales.
Work with the class to identify the different possible perspective in each story. Some may have just two possible points of view, while some may have more (for instance, in Jack and the Beanstalk the possible perspectives are Jack, his mother, the person who sells him the magic beans, and the giant.)
- Use this as an opportunity to allow students to share fairy tale stories that not all their classmates may be familiar with.
Each group is to choose a story from those that the class has brainstormed and use it to make a stop-motion animation that portrays that story from a different perspective.
During the planning phase, have them think about ways that different people might in the story might see it differently.
For example, the giant in "Jack and the Beanstalk" might be a nice guy minding his own business who is robbed by Jack. The troll in "The Three Billy Goats Gruff" might be trying to earn a living by charging bridge tolls.
Make sure students use the story board from the Introduction to Stop-Motion Animation lesson to plan their films carefully.
Remind students of the devices you've learned about in other lessons, including:
With younger students you may want to make this a whole-class project instead.
If time is short, you may choose to have students draw or act out their stories instead of making stop-motion animations.