The Maltese Falcon: What is Film Noir?

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Maltese_Falcon_(1941_film)#/media/File:The_Maltese_Falcon_(1941_film_poster).jpg

The Maltese Falcon is a 1941 American film noir directed and scripted by John Huston^[3] in his directorial debut, based on the 1930 novel of the same name by Dashiell Hammett.^[4][5][6] It stars Humphrey Bogart as private investigator Sam Spade and Mary Astor as his femme fatale client. Gladys George, Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet co-star, with the last appearing in his film debut. The story follows a San Francisco private detective and his dealings with three unscrupulous adventurers, all of whom are competing to obtain a jewel-encrusted falcon statuette.^[3]

from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Maltese_Falcon_(1941_film)

Film Study: Singin' in the Rain (1952)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Singing_in_the_rain_poster.jpg

Getting the number five nod for AFI's 100 greatest American movies of all time, Singin' in the Rain is considered to be the greatest American musical ever filmed. The film was directed and choreographed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen and starred Kelly, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds and Jean Hagen. The story was written by the famous comedy partners Betty Comden and Adolph Green. 

Gene Kelly, who is considered one of the greatest choreographers of musicals as well as a prolific actor and director, will be seen again soon when we watch the luminescent An American in Paris which ironically is the movie he just finished when he was brought on to head Singin' in the Rain with Stanley Donen. He has an amazing dance scene with the transcendental Cyd Charisse (who goes on to star in the Movie Silk Stockings (1957) which is a remake of the movie Ninotchka (1939) which we will be watching later this year.) 

Donen, a protege of Kelly, went on to direct a lot of great movies including Damn Yankees, The Pajama Game and Kismet, as well as the troublesome Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. He also directed the Lionel Ritchie music video "Dancing on the Ceiling".

As we watch this movie we want to pay attention to the use of sound in the movies. We will be looking at this this PowerPoint from the British Film Institute to discuss this further. As we watch, try to figure out:

• How were the tap dancing sounds created during the Singin' in the Rain musical sequence?
•  How were the voices dubbed in the movie? 
• Who actually sang the song Singin' in the Rain during the performance at the movie premiere? 
• How does the music impact the scenes in the movie?
• What is a Foley artist and what do they do?

Seven Samurai (1954)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Samurai#/media/File:Seven_Samurai_movie_poster.jpg

Seven Samurai is arguably the greatest film from arguably the greatest Japanese director. Akira Kurosawa and his writers created the plot elements of recruiting heroes and starting the film with the hero undertaking a mission unrelated to the actual plot. He used multiple cameras and telephoto lenses to capture the action, which was almost as unusual as his insistence on creating the entire village away from the movie studio to make it more authentic.

Probably the most well known actor in this film is Toshiro Mifune, probably because he made 16 movies with Kurosawa. I suspect he is second only to Godzilla when it comes to recognition from audiences outside of Japan.

Film Study: An American in Paris (1951)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:An_American_in_Paris_poster.jpg

An American in Paris (1951) is a musical that was inspired by the composition An American in Paris by George Gershwin. It is directed by Vincente Minnelli and was written by Alan Jay Lerner. The music, of course, is Gershwin's with his brother Ira supplying the lyrics. Some additional music is by the music director Saul Chaplin.

The movie stars Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron, Oscar Levant, Nina Foch and Georges Guetary. It was a winner of 9 Academy Awards and is listed as number 8 on the AFI's Greatest American Musicals list.   

Fractured Fairy Tale Movies

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Truestorythreepigs.jpg

I am reincarnating an old lesson I used to do several years ago, but with a tech twist. We are going to be writing fractured fairy tales and then creating a movie using Xtranormal or GoAnimate.

First, I will read The True Story of The 3 Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka. Notice how the story has changed when the point of view is from a character in the story. You should notice things like A. Wolf did not know what was going on away from him and how his story was biased based on his thoughts and feelings.

Here is the lesson plan:

1. Listen to the story and discuss point of view.
2. Check out the site GoAnimate and Xtranormal You will choose one of these sites to create your video so make sure you understand what they can and can't do.
3. Choose a fairy tale to rewrite from a specific character's point of view. Make sure you choose one that is well known. Here is a good place to get started: 43 Popular Fairy Tales
4. Meet in a small group 3-4 to discuss the stories chosen and brainstorm which to use and which characters to have tell the story.
5. Rewrite the fairy tale from a new point of view. Use your new blog from kidblogs. The link is on the left side of the blog.
6. Storyboard the story using the template provided by Mr. C.
7. Meet in a small group 3-4 to review your story. Students will critique the story and make suggestions.
8. Make any necessary revisions to the story as a separate blog entry.
9. Create your movie using GoAnimate or Xtranormal.
10. Post your movie on your blog.
11. Screen your movie for the rest of the class!