Angelo J. Pompano
While the classic City Symphony was a phenomenon of the middle and late 1920s modern versions of the City Symphony have been attempted, among them M.M. Yee's
Moving Image Materials
, (1988) and Thomas Schadt's
Berlin Symphony
.
(
2002
).
The teacher may want to include these films in a study of the genre for comparison purposes.
The Intent of this Unit
I am planning for this unit to take approximately one month to complete. The intent of these lessons is to create a video documentary in the style of the silent, black and white City Symphonies of the 1920s that will allow the students to think of our school as a community. As with the original City Symphonies which were as much about artistic creation as they were about documenting urban society in the 1920s, the purpose of this unit is as much about creating art as it is about comparing the intricate social system of a school to that of a city.
The students will record the many "behind the scenes" activities that go on between the time of the delivery of their breakfasts in the wee hours of the morning and the late night PTO meetings that go on long after they normally go home. I would like the students to realize not only the amount of work that goes into teacher preparation and evaluation of their studies, but also all of the other activities that are required to have the school function efficiently. Through this film, they will realize that supplies do not just appear in a closet, and administrators and other support staff have jobs that go far beyond what the students observe during their time at school. They will see that these activities come together, as do the movements in a symphony, to give them a quality education.
How the unit addresses the needs of the students
This unit addresses the needs of the students by giving them a meaningful video project that will teach them to appreciate all of the work that goes into providing them an education. The result is a product that will be a source of pride for all of the students in the school. I intend to teach this unit to my 7th and 8th grade Video Technology classes but it may be adapted for use with other grade levels and subject areas. This unit is in alignment with the curriculum of the City of New Haven.
What the students will gain from this unit
The students will gain an understanding of the complex "behind the scenes" activities that are necessary for them to have a successful school day. While they may have some vague realization that teachers prepare lessons and check homework beforehand, they will come to realize that their education is the result of many more people who are not so obvious in their contributions to the mosaic of the school day.
As the word mosaic implies, this knowledge will be gained through an artistic expression in the creation of a video in the form of a classic City Symphony "silent" film. The students will look for rhythms, patterns, textures, and moods in the material that they tape. They will then edit the visual material to match the rhythms and moods that they hear in music to create a "visual symphony." Thus from this unit the students will gain not only knowledge of the school environment, but they will also learn how to express their creativity.
Vocabulary
The first goal of the unit is to familiarize the students with the vocabulary that will needed to produce a City Symphony movie. As a starting point, I offer the following vocabulary. Of course, each teacher will want to adjust the list to the needs of their students.
The following vocabulary should be discussed before starting this unit.
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1. Arc Shot: the subject being photographed is circled by the camera.
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2. Art form: a medium, such as film, through which artistic expression can be conveyed.
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3. Avant-garde: the expression of experimental ideas in a motion picture.
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4. Back light: illumination behind the subject.
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5. Camera: an apparatus for recording images.
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6. Camera angles: the angle from which a camera records a scene as from above or below the subject.
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7. Close-up: a tight shot that fills the frame with part of a subject.
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8. Documentary: a film concerned primarily with teaching and or expressing a particular viewpoint.
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9. Director: a director has artistic control of a movie by dictating how the actors play the scene as well as how it is shot and edited.
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10. Dissolve: the image of one scene is gradually replaced by the image of the next.
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11. Edit: arranging the events in a film to give it meaning or to eliminate unwanted material.
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12. Establishing shot: a wide angle shot for the purpose of identifying the setting of a motion picture
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13. Experimental film: a film that uses non-conventional camera angles and editing
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14. Fade in: A gradual transition from complete blackness to a image.
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15. Fade out: A gradual transition from an image to complete blackness.
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16. Genre: a certain category of film.
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17. Lighting: the artificial light used in most productions.
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18. Montage: a rapid succession of images in a movie to create a connection of ideas.
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19. Mood: the emotion conveyed by a motion picture.
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20. Pre-production: preliminary work done before the start of filming, such as writing the script, arranging for the actors, and setting up the locations.
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21. Point of view: the view from which the audience sees the action.
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22. Post-production: work done on a movie after it is filmed such as editing, and special effects.
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23. Production: The entire movie project. This can also mean the time during which the photography takes place.
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24. Scene: a continuous filmed sequence taking place on one location or at one time.
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25. Script: the written work which includes the plot, locations, and dialogue of a movie.
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26. Set: the place in which a movie is filmed. This can be either on location or on a built set.
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27. Special effect: an illusion created in a movie.
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28. Silent Film: a film without sound usually accompanied by a live musical performance.
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29. Storyboard: sequential drawings of scenes that illustrate what the camera will eventually record.
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30. Surrealism in Motion Pictures: imagery or effects in a film assembled in such a way as to create a distorted image of reality.
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31. Synopsis: a summary of the plot and characters in a movie.
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32. Take: the recording of a continuous performance of a scene.
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33. Travelogue: a filmed lecture about travel.
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34. Treatment: a summary of each major scene of a motion picture, including some dialogue, and descriptions of major characters and settings.
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35. Wipe: an editing technique in which one shot replaces another made by a line moving across the screen
