Lesson: Special Effects
In this lesson, students will learn what special effspecial effects are, the history of special effects and how they are made now.
Grade range: 1-3
Teacher Material: https://pressbooks.pub/buildingblocks/chapter/special-effects/
Student Material: https://pressbooks.pub/buildingblocks/chapter/la-fee-aux-choux/
Time Frame
One class period (45-60 minutes) | Two or three class periods (60-90 minutes) |
Extended Unit |
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Activities |
Special Effects How Green Screen Works Can You Believe Your Eyes? Green Screen Animals
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Special Effects
How Green Screen Works Can You Believe Your Eyes? Screening Stop Motion
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Special Effects
How Green Screen Works Can You Believe Your Eyes? Screening Stop Motion Wacky Media Songs: Make Me Shine! Wacky Media Songs: Picture Perfect! |
Preparation:
- Make sure that you are able to show the embedded videos.
- If you are conducting the Screening Stop Motion activity, review the technical requirements for the Introduction to Stop Motion lesson.
- If you are conducting the Green Screen Animals activity, download the folder Green Screen Animals and prepare to distribute the images.
Learning Outcomes
Big ideas/key concepts: Students will understand that…
Media are constructions
- Media works are made many people who made choices that affect the final work
Each medium has a unique aesthetic form
- Special Effects are when something special needs to be done to achieve an action or a look
Key questions:
- How do special effects work?
- When and why do media makers use them?
Essential knowledge: Students will know…
- Reading media: Green screen technology employs a background layer and a layer with the green screen footage. A special effect is added to take away everything that’s green.
- Finding and verifying: Special effects mean we cannot trust our eyes when judging whether something is real or not
- Consumer awareness: History of special effects in film
- Key vocabulary: Special effect, practical effect, optical effect
Performance tasks: Students will be able to…
- Use: Make a media work that employs green screen technique
- Understand: Identify what a special effect is and isn’t; describe how green screen technology works
- Engage: Consider the impact of special effects on our ability to judge what is real; Explore women’s role in developing special effects in film
Curriculum Connections
Strand A: Literacy Connections and Applications
A2. Digital Media Literacy
A2.3 Research and Information Literacy
gather, evaluate, and use information, considering various perspectives, to construct knowledge and demonstrate learning
A2.4 Forms, Conventions and Techniques
demonstrate an understanding of the forms, conventions, and techniques of digital and media texts, and apply this understanding when analyzing texts
A2.5 Media, Audience, and Production
demonstrate an understanding of the interrelationships between the form, message, and context of a text, the audience, and the creator
A2.6 Innovation and Design
use digital and media tools to support stages of the design process and to develop creative solutions to authentic, real-world problems
A2.7 Community and Cultural Awareness
communicate and collaborate with various communities in a safe, respectful, responsible, and inclusive manner when using online platforms and environments, including digital and media tools, and demonstrate cultural awareness with members of the community
A3. Applications, Connections and Contributions
A3.1 Cross-Curricular and Integrated Learning
apply the knowledge and skills developed in this grade to support learning in various subject areas and identify some ways this learning can be used in everyday life
A3.2 Identity and Community
demonstrate an understanding of the contributions, lived experiences, and perspectives of a diversity of individuals and communities, including those in Canada, by exploring the concepts of identity, self, and sense of belonging in culturally responsive and relevant texts
Strand C: Composition (Understanding and Responding to Texts)
C1 Knowledge About Texts
C1.4 Visual Elements of Texts
Grade 1: demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between simple illustrations, images, and graphics and the text
Grade 2: identify ways in which images, graphics, and visual design create, communicate, and contribute to meaning in a variety of texts
Grade 3: describe ways in which images, graphics, and visual design are used in a given text, and demonstrate an understanding of their purpose and connection to the content of the text
C1.5 Elements of Style
Grade 1: identify some simple elements of style in texts, including voice, word choice, word patterns, and sentence structure, and describe how they help communicate meaning
Grade 2: identify some simple elements of style in texts, including voice, word choice, word patterns, and sentence structure, and explain how they help communicate meaning
Grade 3: identify some elements of style in texts, including voice, word choice, word patterns, and sentence structure, and explain how they help communicate meaning
C2 Comprehension Strategies
C2.3 Monitoring of Understanding: Making and Confirming Predictions
Grade 1: make predictions using background knowledge, text features, and evidence from the text
Grade 2: make predictions using background knowledge, text features, and evidence from the text
Grade 3: make predictions using background knowledge, text features, and evidence from the text, and adjust their understanding based on new information
C2.5 Monitoring of Understanding: Making Connections
Grade 1: identify connections between ideas expressed in simple texts and their knowledges and lived experiences, the ideas in other familiar texts, and the world around them
Grade 2: identify connections between ideas expressed in simple texts and their knowledges and lived experiences, the ideas in other familiar texts, and the world around them
Grade 3: identify connections between ideas expressed in texts and their knowledges and lived experiences, the ideas in other texts, and the world around them
C2.7 Reflecting on Learning
Grade 1: identify strategies, such as activating prior knowledge and visualizing, that have helped them comprehend texts
Grade 2: identify strategies, such as rereading, visualizing, and asking questions, that have helped them comprehend various texts
Grade 3: describe how strategies, such as visualizing, making predictions, and connecting to their experiences, have helped them comprehend various texts
C3 Critical Thinking in Literacy
C3.4 Analyzing Cultural Elements of Texts
Grade 1: identify some cultural elements represented in various texts, including symbols and values, and explain how these elements contribute to the meaning
Grades 2-3: identify some cultural elements represented in various texts, including symbols, language, and values, and pose questions and share ideas about how these elements contribute to the meaning
Strand D: Composition (Expressing Ideas and Creating Texts)
D1.2 Developing Ideas
Grade 1: generate ideas about given and chosen topics, using simple strategies and drawing on various resources, including their own lived experiences, and learning from other subject areas
Grades 2-3: generate and develop ideas about given and chosen topics, using simple strategies, and drawing on various resources, including their own lived experiences, and learning from other subject areas
D1.4 Organizing Conten
Grades 1-2: sort and sequence ideas and information, taking into account the text form and genre to be used
Grade 3: sort and sequence ideas and information, using appropriate strategies and tools, taking into account the text form and genre
D1.5 Reflecting on Learning
Grades 1-2: identify the strategies that helped them develop ideas for texts
Grade 3: identify the strategies that helped them develop ideas for texts and organize content
D2 Creating Texts
D2.1 Producing Drafts
Grade 1: draft short, simple texts of various forms and genres, including personal narratives, persuasive texts, and procedural texts, using a variety of media, tools, and strategies
Grade 2: draft short texts of various forms and genres, including personal narratives, persuasive texts, and procedural texts, using a variety of media, tools, and strategies
Grade 3: draft short texts of various forms and genres, including narrative, persuasive, and informational texts, using a variety of media, tools, and strategies
D3 Publishing, Presenting and Reflecting
D3.1 Producing Final Texts
produce final texts, using simple techniques, to achieve the intended effect
D3.2 Publishing and Presenting Texts
present the texts they have created using appropriate strategies, including by reading aloud with expression
A special effect is when something special is needed to achieve an artistic outcome. For instance a director can simply film an actor dancing, but something special needs to be done to film an actor flying.
A practical effect is a special effect that is used during production, like creature makeup or puppets.
A special effect added in post-production, after the video has been filmed.