Lesson: Rules of Notice – Camera Techniques and Conventions
In this lesson, students learn about rules of notice in visual media.
Grade range: 9
Time Frame
| One class period (75 minutes) | Two or three class periods (150-225 minutes) | Extended Unit | |
| Activities | Introduction
The Camera Frame: Angle and Distance The Camera Frame: Camera Movement and Combining Techniques The Camera Frame: Storyboards |
Introduction
The Camera Frame: Angle and Distance The Camera Frame: Camera Movement and Combining Techniques The Camera Frame: Storyboards Six-Shot Storyboard Assignment Reflection |
Introduction
The Camera Frame: Angle and Distance The Camera Frame: Camera Movement and Combining Techniques The Camera Frame: Storyboards Six-Shot Storyboard Assignment Short Film Assignment Reflection |
Preparation:
- Make sure that you are able to show the embedded videos or that students are able to access the links.
- If you are delivering the Storyboards activity, you may wish to familiarize yourself with storyboard apps and programs storyboard apps and programs.
- If you are delivering the Short Film activity, you may wish to familiarize yourself with a few simple video editing apps or programs simple video editing apps or programs.
- If you wish to provide students with printed copies of the student material, download them here:
A printable version of this lesson is available on the MediaSmarts website.
Learning Outcomes
Big ideas/key concepts: Students will understand that…
Media are constructions:
- Media works were made by people who made choices that affect the final work
Each medium has a unique aesthetic form:
- Different media forms have different rules of notice that media creators use to draw and direct attention
Key questions:
- How do media creators draw and direct attention in visual media?
- How do elements like camera angle, distance and movement help to tell a story and tell us how to interpret it?
Essential knowledge: Students will know…
- Reading media: Important visual codes that are used in visual media such as TV and movies
- Making and remixing: Storyboarding and film editing
- Key vocabulary: cinematographer, close-up, director, dolly, expressionist, genre, medium shot, narrative, pan, storyboard, tilt, viewpoint character, wide shot, zoom.
Performance tasks: Students will be able to…
- Understand the concept of “rules of notice” in media
- Recognize and analyze the use of camera angle, distance and movement in visual media
- Create a storyboard that effectively uses the rules of notice they have learned
- Use their storyboard as a rough draft towards creating a finished film
- Reflect on their learning and work
Student-friendly outcomes:
- We will learn that media like TV and movies are carefully constructed by creators who make choices about visual elements, and that each type of media has its own unique style and techniques for guiding the audience’s attention.
- We will think about how filmmakers use visual codes to tell stories and influence how viewers interpret what they see.
- We will analyze these techniques in existing media, apply them by creating our own storyboards, and use these storyboards as a foundation for making and reflecting on our own short films.
Curriculum Connections
Strand A: Literacy Connections and Applications
A2. Digital Media Literacy
A2.4 Forms, Conventions, and Techniques
evaluate the use of the various forms, conventions, and techniques of digital and media texts, consider the impact on the audience, and apply this understanding when analyzing and creating texts
A2.5 Media, Audience and Production
demonstrate an understanding of the interrelationships between the form, message, and context of texts, the intended and unintended audience, and the purpose for production
A2.6 Innovation and Design
select and use appropriate digital and media tools to support the design process and address authentic, relevant, real-world problems by developing and proposing innovative solutions
Strand C: Comprehension (Understanding and Responding to Texts)
C1. Knowledge about Texts
C1.2 Text Forms and Genres
analyze and compare the characteristics of various text forms and genres, including cultural text forms, and provide evidence to explain how they help communicate meaning
C1.4 Visual Elements of Texts
analyze and compare how images, graphics, and visual design create, communicate, and contribute to meaning in a variety of texts
C2. Comprehension Strategies
C2.1 Prereading: Activating Prior Knowledge
identify and explain prior knowledge from various sources, personal experiences and learning in other subject areas, that they can use to make connections and understand new texts
C2.3 Monitoring of Understanding: Making and Confirming Predictions
make predictions using background knowledge and textual information, pose questions to confirm or refute their predictions, and revise or refine their understanding as indicated
C2.7 Reflecting on Learning
explain and compare how various strategies, such as visualizing, making predictions, summarizing, and connecting to their experiences, have helped them comprehend various texts, and set goals to improve their comprehension
C3. Critical Thinking in Literacy
C3.2 Making Inferences
make local and global inferences, using explicit and implicit evidence, to explain and support their interpretations about various complex texts
C3.3 Analyzing Texts
analyze complex texts, including literary and informational texts, by assessing the credibility, reliability, and significance of information and formulating conclusions
C3.8 Reflecting on Learning
assess the effectiveness of the critical thinking skills they used when analyzing and evaluating various texts, and set goals to improve their use
Strand D:Composition (Expressing Ideas and Creating Texts)
D1 Developing Ideas and Organizing Content
D1.2 Developing Ideas
generate and develop ideas and details about challenging topics, such as topics related to diversity, equity, and inclusion and to other subject areas, using a variety of strategies, and drawing on various resources, including their own lived experiences
D1.4 Organizing Content
classify and sequence ideas and collected information, selecting effective strategies and tools, and identify and organize relevant content, evaluating the choices of text form, genre, and medium, and considering alternatives
D1.5 Reflecting on Learning
evaluate the strategies and tools used to develop ideas and organize content, for the creating texts in the chosen forms, genres, and media, explain which ones were most helpful, and suggest steps for future improvement as a text creator
D2 Creating Texts
D2.1 Producing Drafts
draft complex texts of various forms and genres, including narrative, persuasive, expository, and informational texts, citing sources, and use a variety of appropriate media, tools, and strategies to transform information and communicate ideas
D2.5 Revision
make revisions to the content, elements of style, patterns, and features of draft texts, and add, delete, revise, and reorganize sentences to improve clarity, focus, and coherence, using various strategies and seeking and selectively using feedback
D3 Publishing, Presenting and Reflecting
D3.1 Producing Final Texts
produce final texts using appropriate techniques and tools, including digital design and production tools, to achieve the intended effect
D3.2 Publishing and Presenting
publish and present texts they have created, using various media and tools, and evaluate how their choices helped them communicate their intended message
D3.3 Reflecting on Learning
evaluate the strategies and tools they found helpful when publishing and presenting texts, reflect on what they learned at each stage of the creative process, analyze how their texts address various topics, and suggest steps for future improvement as a text creator
The cinematographer or director of photography works with the director to plan camera angles and movement and puts it into action on set. Some directors work closely with their cinematographers while others rely on them to set the movie’s digital style.
A shot in which the camera "view" is close to the subject, which takes up most or all of the frame.
The director of a movie makes all of the big-picture decisions about things like the look and tone of the film, as well as script and casting.
When the camera physically moves along a track during a shot.
A media tool serves an expressionist purpose when it affects how you feel about what's happening, like when sad music plays in the background.
Genre is the types or categories into which texts are grouped. For example, film genres include action, suspense and comedy. There are also more specific sub-genres such as superhero, romantic comedy, thriller and film noir.
A shot in which most of a person, but not the wider background, is visible.
A media tool serves a narrative purpose when it helps to tell the story more clearly, such as by showing an important detail.
When the camera moves from side to side during a shot.
A tool used for planning shots. Storyboards include a still image of the main shot composition and notes about camera movement.
When the camera moves up or down during a shot.
The character we most identify with, who acts as our "window" on the world of the film.
A shot in which the actors and the background are fully visible.
When the magnification on a camera is increased or decreased during a shot, making the subject seem to be nearer or further away.