THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STI L L STUDENTACTIVITY BOOKLET DIRECTED BY: ROBERT WISE 1951 Presented by THE FILM FOUNDATION in partnership with IBM and TURNER CLASSIC MOVIES
THE STORY OF MOVIES An Interdisciplinary Curriculum for Middle School Students on Reading Moving Images The Day the Earth Stood Still Directed by Robert Wise, 1951 STUDENT ACTIVITY BOOKLET Developed and distributed by The Film Foundation in partnership with IBM Corporation and Turner Classic Movies
A very special thanks to 20th Century Fox for their support in providing this classic film to middle schools nationwide. The Day the Earth Stood Still Directed by: Robert Wise Written by: Edmund H. North (screenplay) and Harry Bates (story) Starring: Michael Rennie and Patricia Neal 1951, renewed 1979 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved. The Story of Movies would not have been possible without the support of The Film Foundation Board of Directors: Martin Scorsese (Chair), Woody Allen, Robert Altman (in memoriam), Paul Thomas Anderson, Wes Anderson, Francis Ford Coppola, Clint Eastwood, Curtis Hanson, Peter Jackson, Stanley Kubrick (in memoriam), Ang Lee, George Lucas, Alexander Payne, Sydney Pollack (in memoriam), Robert Redford, Steven Spielberg Copyright 2009 by The Film Foundation. All Rights Reserved. Published 2009. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form whatsoever without the written permission of The Film Foundation. The Film Foundation grants educators permission to reproduce, student activity pages, graphic organizers and assessment pages for use in their classrooms only. The Film Foundation 7920 Sunset Boulevard, 6th Floor Los Angeles, CA 90046 110 West 57th Street, 6th Floor New York, NY 10019 www.film-foundation.org Printed in the United States of America
Chapter One Critical-Thinking Activity 1-1: Compare and Contrast the Familiar and the Unfamiliar 1 Group Activity 1-2, Enrichment: Research a Science Fiction Film Timeline 2 Reading Activity 1-3: Heads of State 4 Critical-Thinking Activity 1-4: Act 2 Cause-and-Effect Relationships 8 Reading Activity 1-5: A Simple Choice? 10 Reading Activity 1-6: Commentary from the Filmmakers The Movie s Message 13 Reading Activity 1-7: Panic at the Nickelodeon 14 Reading Activity 1-8: The Chasers 15 Group Activity 1-9: Researching the National Film Registry 16 Graphic Organizer 1-1: The Building Blocks of Genre 17 Graphic Organizer 1-2: The Genre Wheel 18 Graphic Organizer 1-3: Three Characteristics of Sci-Fi Films 19 Graphic Organizer 1-4: The Familiar and the Unfamiliar in Sci-Fi Films 20 Graphic Organizer 1-5: Two Ways to Read a Film 21 Graphic Organizer 1-6: How Do Filmmakers Create Meaning? 22 Graphic Organizer 1-7: Narrative Structure 23 Graphic Organizer 1-8: Film Damage 24 Graphic Organizer 1-9: Three Steps in the Film Preservation Process 25 Screening Sheet 1-1: The Corpse 26 Screening Sheet 1-2: A Fast Bogey 28 Screening Sheet 1-3: Weapon of War or Weapon of Peace? 29 Chapter Two Reading Activity 2-1: Rocket Summer 30 Reading Activity 2-2: The Spaceship Lands 31 Reading Activity 2-3: Building a Believable Spaceship 32 Reading Activity 2-4: The Speakies 33 Reading Activity 2-5: The Sound of Science Fiction 34
Chapter Two, continued Graphic Organizer 2-1: What Happens During Pre-Production? 35 Graphic Organizer 2-2: What Happens During Production? 36 Graphic Organizer 2-3: What Happens During Post-Production? 37 Graphic Organizer 2-4: Putting It All Together Three Stages of Production 38 Graphic Organizer 2-5: Literary v. Cinematic Conventions 39 Graphic Organizer 2-6: Casting a Film 40 Graphic Organizer 2-7: What Is Production Design? 41 Graphic Organizer 2-8: What Does the Production Designer Do? 42 Graphic Organizer 2-9: What Is Cinematography? 43 Graphic Organizer 2-10: What Does the Cinematographer Do? 44 Graphic Organizer 2-11: What Is Film Editing? 45 Graphic Organizer 2-12: What Does the Film Editor Do? 46 Graphic Organizer 2-13: What Is a Soundtrack? 47 Graphic Organizer 2-14: What Does the Sound Editor Do? 48 Graphic Organizer 2-15: What Does the Music Director/Composer Do? 49 Screening Sheet 2-1: The Wise Vision 50 Screening Sheet 2-2: Action-Reaction 52 Screening Sheet 2-3: The Cab Ride Through D.C. 53 Screening Sheet 2-4: The Listener and the Speaker 54 Screening Sheet 2-5: Man from Mars Escapes! 55 Screening Sheet 2-6: Ears and Eyes 57 Screening Sheet 2-7: How Music Communicates 58 Chapter Three Visual-Thinking Activity 3-1: Shots and Significance 59 Visual-Thinking Activity 3-2: Analyzing Perspective in The Day the Earth Stood Still 61 Graphic Organizer 3-1: Point of Emphasis 62 Graphic Organizer 3-2: Camera-to-Subject Distances 63 Graphic Organizer 3-3: Camera-to-Subject Angles 64 Graphic Organizer 3-4: Three Principles of Visual Design 65 Graphic Organizer 3-5: The Building Blocks of Visual Design 66
Chapter Three, continued Graphic Organizer 3-6: A Brief History of Visual Effects 67 Graphic Organizer 3-7: What Is Light Intensity? 68 Graphic Organizer 3-8: Three Ways to Control Light 69 Graphic Organizer 3-9: Cinematic Point of View (POV) 70 Graphic Organizer 3-10: Camera Movements 71 Graphic Organizer 3-11: Editing Decisions Pacing and Continuity 72 Graphic Organizer 3-12: Editing Decisions Scene Transitions 73 Graphic Organizer 3-13: What are Cinematic Devices? 74 Screening Sheet 3-1: Introduction to Visual Effects 75 [Teacher s Note: There is no Screening Sheet for Film Clip 3-2] Screening Sheet 3-3: The New Boarder 77 Screening Sheet 3-4: Identifying Point of View 79 Screening Sheet 3-5: Motion Detection 81 Screening Sheet 3-6: Reel Time in the Old West 82 Screening Sheet 3-7: Around the World in Just a Few Shots 84 Screening Sheet 3-8: Mise-en-Scène The Breakfast Table 86 Chapter Four Reading Activity 4-1: Flying Saucers Real Science or Science Fiction? 89 Research Activity 4-2: 1950s Depictions of the Media and the Military 90 Prewriting Activity 4-3, Enrichment: Comparing and Contrasting Chart 92 Reading Activity 4-4: A Page from President Truman s Diary 93 Reading Activity 4-5: What Was the Cold War? 94 Reading Activity 4-6: The Turtle Controversy 95 Reading Activity 4-7: The Doomsday Clock Then 96 Reading Activity 4-8: Nuclear Weapons Test Ban Treaty, 1963 97 Research and Writing Activity 4-9: Tapping History and Science for a Film Project 99 Research and Writing Activity 4-10: Developing a Film Concept 101 Graphic Organizer 4-1: That Was Then; This Is Now 102 Graphic Organizer 4-2: Depicting Characters in Films 103 Graphic Organizer 4-3: Propaganda Strategies 104 Graphic Organizer 4-4: Analyzing a Documentary Film 105 Graphic Organizer 4-5: What Is a Film Concept? 106
Chapter Four, continued Screening Sheet 4-1: Depicting Bobby... and the Adults 107 Screening Sheet 4-2: We Interrupt This Program... 109 Screening Sheet 4-3, Enrichment: Listen to Me! You re Next! 110 Screening Sheet 4-4: The Atom Strikes! 112 Screening Sheet 4-5: East v. West 115 Screening Sheet 4-6: Duck and Cover 117 Screening Sheet 4-7: Watch the Skies! 119