Introduction
This lesson will probably take two weeks to complete.
Let's watch a snippet of the movie, Frozen.
Who were the villains in this movie? Did you know they were the villains from the beginning? What trick did the creator of this movie use to make the villain so likeable? How did you work out that Hans was a villain? The creator made the character of Kristoff more likeable than Hans. How did he do this? What effect did this have on the character of Hans? Did you notice any changes in music, lighting, colour, sound effects etc when the villains or heroes were in the story? |
Let's look at a different Disney movie
Watch a small extract from The Lion King. This is where Scar arranges for Simba to be in danger and then causes Simba's father to die when trying to rescue him. Look very closely at how the creator makes the villain, Scar, appear vicious, scary and threatening. How is he drawn compared to Simba and Simba's father? What features make him look like the baddie? What is the music like in this scene? What camera angles are used to make Simba look small and vulnerable and to make Scar look mean and scary?
Let's compare two scenes in The Lion King
The following two clips are very different. In the first one we meet Timon and Pumba and Simba and in the second one we see a fight between Scar and a grown up Simba.
After you watch each one ask the following questions:
After you watch each one ask the following questions:
- How do you feel towards the characters in this scene?
- How do the characters of Timon and Pumba help us to understand Simba? What do they say about him that makes us feel positive towards Simba?
- Which clip has humour? Why?
- What colours are used in each scene? Why? Are the colours significant?
- What is the lighting like in each one? Why?
- Listen to the music and the sound effects. How do they make us feel about the characters?
- How do the characters speak in each one? Are they rude? Are they kind? Are they funny? Are they thoughtful? Are the aggressive? Are they powerful?
- Look at the way that the camera angle influences how we view a character. If they are filmed looking down on the scene below, does that make them more or less powerful? If they are made to look small in a wide angle shot, how does that make us feel about them?
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The choices that the creators make...
The choices that the creators make about lighting, colours, music, voices of characters, humour, dialogue, camera angles and so on are very deliberate. The creator wants us (the viewer) to feel a certain way about each of the characters so that we know them as the hero or the villain.
Can you think of any other examples in movies that you have watched where the creators have made choices about music, lighting, dialogue, colours, sound effects etc etc to create characters and help us to understand them as villainous or heroic?
Can you think of any other examples in movies that you have watched where the creators have made choices about music, lighting, dialogue, colours, sound effects etc etc to create characters and help us to understand them as villainous or heroic?