Drawing Angles
Choose a holiday/topic for this activity. Thanksgiving is used as an example below, but you can use any holiday or topic you choose; the purpose is to give students a concrete example to reflect on their feelings.
Ask students to think about how they feel on Thanksgiving. Do they feel excited? Relaxed? Bored? Do they not feel any strong feelings at all?
Depending on your class, you may want to have them write some different feelings before moving to the next step.
Now tell students that they are going to do three drawings that get across how they feel at Thanksgiving.
Display the Course Presentation in the student chapter Drawing Angles, or have students access it.
Go through the three images and explain:
One of their drawings must be a close-up, one must be a medium shot, and one must be a wide shot.
The close-up should show one of your feelings.
The medium shot should show one of your feelings and give a clue about why you feel that way (for instance, a piece of pie).
The wide shot should show why you feel one of your feelings by showing a whole scene.
Encourage students to think about point of view when planning their drawings. Is the picture what they are seeing (first-person point of view) or are we seeing them from a third-person point of view?
When students have finished their drawings, ask them:
How would it feel different if the close-up was missing?
How would it feel different if the medium shot was missing?
How would it feel different if the wide shot was missing?
Ask students if they have ever done a similar exercise, in class or elsewhere. If so, ask them to reflect on what has changed since the last time they did.
The perspective of the narrator in relation to the story; the vantage point from which events are seen (e.g., first, second, or third person; omniscient, limited, or unreliable).
