Lesson 2

Day 1

Objective:

Use a short story and film clip to help students begin to understand how surrealism can be portrayed through both film and literature. Have them draw relationships between the film and the story. In what ways do both artistic creations contain surrealistic elements? How are these elements used similarly/differently by the author/director?  How is the reality of the narrator of the short story and the artist in the movie altered using surrealistic methods and the own reader/viewers’ preconceived perceptions of reality?

 

Procedure:

Have students sit in groups of four.  Assign each group a category. One group will be in charge of lighting and special effects, another character portrayal, another setting and props and another music and sounds.  Give them this film chart, which provides them with an outline that they can use to take notes. Each student will be responsible for noting the surrealistic elements incorporated by the director, paying attention to the specific category they were assigned to.  Then you will show the first 25 minutes of the film Three Cases of Murder by Orson Welles. This will allow students to see the first case for murder.  Once the film is over ask the students to discuss their notes with the other members in their group. Afterwards, a group representative will share their observations with the rest of the class. Ask each group representative how the director’s choices in their category added to the surrealistic theme of the murder case.  Remind students to refer to their Introduction to Surrealism Handout for specific Surrealistic terms and ideas.

 

Homework:

Have students use the categories provided on the worksheet to describe how they would create and film the final scene from the short story Virus. Ask them what they would want the narrator to look like and why? How would they stay true to the surrealist form of the story? What special effects would they use? Would there be music? Would they consider applying ideas from the “Dominion of Light” theory? How? Remind students that they should be able to explain all of their decisions.

 

 

 

Day 2

 

Objective:

Ask students to sit in the same groups they were in the day before. Give the students time to share their homework with each other. This way they can see how everyone had a slightly different interpretation of the story, and how their peers would have chosen to visually represent the final scene of the story.  This should take about 10 minutes. Afterwards have the students sit in a circle. The next half hour will revolve around a Socratic Method discussion.  Ask the students some important questions and they will have the rest of the period (a half hour) to discuss and debate these questions with their peers.

 

Some necessary questions to consider are:

 

1)      How is time represented in both the story and the film? What does this say about surrealists’ perception of time?

2)      How does the language in the story correlate with the surrealistic tone?

3)      How are displaced objects and metamorphosis used in both the film and the short story?

4)      How are both the story and film presented to demonstrate a cyclical pattern?  What editorial and directorial choices (i.e. lighting, characterization, film angles and sound) are made to emphasis the cyclical pattern that results from the characters obsessions?

 

Assessment:

Are students beginning to understand the different themes and techniques often used in surrealist film? If they were able to discuss the complex questions above by referencing examples from the films clips played in class, than these two lessons have been successful.

 

Homework:

Ask students to try writing for 10 minutes straight, without stopping. While doing this they should avoid making any conscious decisions. They should try to write ignoring the limitations of grammar and punctuation and without thinking about anything specific. Ask them to bring this automatic writing sample to class.