Seeking Justice: To Kill a Mockingbird (2020)

Lesson 27
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ELA

Unit 6

8th Grade

Lesson 27 of 35

Objective


Analyze the extent to which the filmmakers have stayed faithful to or departed from the original text of To Kill a Mockingbird by comparing and contrasting text and film.

Readings and Materials


  • Book: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee  — chapter 28

  • Movie: To Kill a Mockingbird  — 1:53:00–1:57:50

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Target Task


Writing Prompt

How does the filmmaker’s use of camera angles between 1:56:30–1:57:20 remain faithful to—and depart from—the original text? How is the reader’s and viewer’s experience similar when engaging with both the film and the text? Be sure to provide specific details and explain your thinking.

Sample Response

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Key Questions


  • What mood is created between 1:53:50 and 1:55:45? How does the filmmaker create this mood? Name at least three techniques the filmmaker uses.
  • Compare the mood created by the filmmakers in this scene and the mood developed in the text on pages 298–299. To what extent has the filmmaker stayed faithful to the mood Lee creates in this scene?
  • What mood is created between 1:55:45 and 1:57:50? How does the filmmaker create this mood? Name at least three techniques the filmmaker uses.
  • Discussion: Do you feel more suspense when you watch a movie or read an intense scene in a book? What makes that experience more intense?

Lesson Guidance


Standard and Literary Concepts

  • Remind students that directors make choices when creating a film from a book. They employ certain effects to make the film more interesting for viewers. Some of the tools that filmmakers use are:
    • Diegetic Sound: Sounds that originate from the world of the film (doors opening, dogs barking, etc.).
    • Non-diegetic: Sounds that are added, like music or voiceover.
    • Color/Lighting: Is the scene light or dark? Are the colors bright or muted?
    • Camera angles: Close up: frames a person’s face; wide angle: shows significantly more of the scene.
    • Camera Movement: Zooming in, zooming out, panning up/down/left/right.
    • Actors’ Choices: Facial expressions, movement, tone of voice, pauses.
    • Pacing: How quickly does the movie progress? Are scenes brief of long?
  • Identify and share some common effects music, lighting, and camera angles can have on meaning:
    • heighten, increase, or emphasize emotions
    • reveal aspects or emotions of characters
    • connect one scene to another or show passage of time

Notes

  • Because the section of film students are focusing on today is relatively short, you may want to replay the scene several times.

Homework

  • Read To Kill a Mockingbird, chapters 29–31.

Common Core Standards


  • RL.8.7 — Analyze the extent to which a filmed or live production of a story or drama stays faithful to or departs from the text or script, evaluating the choices made by the director or actors.
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Lesson 26

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Lesson 28

Lesson Map

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