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Wednesday, April 30, 2014

04.30 - Movie Scripts

At the beginning of class today, partner groups from yesterday's Likert scale activity got back together and completed their Likert scales.

We then tested out the "Creeper or Keeper" Likert scale on the song "Dreams" by Stevie Nicks (this was on the recommendation of the person who research Stevie Nicks for their public figure project).


The Likert creeper or keeper ratings for the speaker of the song were as follows: 3, 4, 4,5

People generally felt that the person was getting over a breakup. Some people felt that the speaker was lingering on this relationship too long. Other people felt that while this person was not yet ready for a new relationship s/he was dealing with the post-relationship emotions responsibly (which lead to the "keeper" skew of 4, 4, 5).

Next, we started in our work to understand how Shakespearean plays are set up differently in terms of structure and language from the "book style" narratives we have been working with so far this year.

We took a moment to discuss the term "Shakespearean" and how adding "ean" to the end of a word turns the noun "Shakespeare" into an adjective describing writing that is in the style of Shakespeare. The letters "ean" work like the roots and prefixes that we have been working with throughout the year, but since they are at the end of the word they are referred to as a suffix. Other suffixes that serve a similar function are "-ian" and "-esque." Other examples could include:

-ean --> Shakespearean (in the writing style of the author William Shakespeare)
-ian --> Dickensian (in the writing style of the author Charles Dickens)
-esque --> Kafkaesque (in the writing style of Franz Kafka)

-ian and -esque are probably the more common suffixes

As discussed in class, these suffixes can be added to words and although those words may not appear in the dictionary, the word is a legitimate word. 

We then took a look at a movie script which has a number of similarities to a Shakespearean script for a play, but contains language that is a bit more familiar to us. We read a selection of the script together with different people assuming various speaking roles (see below).

Click Image to Enlarge
Click Image to Enlarge
Click Image to Enlarge


After everyone had a chance to brainstorm some responses to the post-reading response question above, we discussed differences that people identified. These included:

- The writing is broken up into small paragraphs whenever someone new speaks
- The writing is broken up when anything new happens
- The person speaking is identified only at the beginning of their lines (not in the text)
- Shifts in what is happening take place quickly through the paragraph breaks
        - You really have to pay attention to when the scene shifts and who is part of the scene

Next class, we will watch the beginning of Star Wars: A New Hope to see what the script looks like when adapted as a movie.

Handouts:
Star Wars movie script - beginning

Homework:

Prepare for the Unit 3 roots and prefixes quiz on Friday.


Complete or revise any assignments scoring below a 3.
Keep up to date on your grades by visiting: http://lisbon.web2school.com/



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