Objective
Students will demonstrate understanding of a director’s concept and how to develop a concept by participating in activities and discussions and by creating a director’s concept for their chosen scene from Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Materials Needed
Pictures of a variety of productions of Midsummer Night’s Dream. (Make sure the pictures are in plastic sheaths to protect them from fingerprints, stickers, etc.)
Pencil/pen and paper for each student—students can/should provide their own.
Strips of colored circle stickers.
Examples and Analyses of Directors’ Concept
Related Documents
Lesson Directions
Anticipatory Set/Hook
Tape a large number of pictures from a variety of productions of Midsummer Night’s Dream on the walls around the classroom. Have the students sit down immediately. Do not let them look closely at the pictures and/or answer any questions about them.
Instruction
Step 1—Check to see if students have completed their homework. Then, review the previous lesson.
Ask: What is a director?
What are a director's responsibilities?
What traits, talents, and/or skills does a director need?
What is a director's concept?
Step 2—Explain that today we are going to learn more about a director's concept. Look around the room. All the pictures you see are from different productions of Midsummer Night’s Dream. Go around and look at each of the pictures.
Give students several minutes to meander around the room and look at the different pictures.
Step 3—Have the students come back to their chairs and express their thoughts about the pictures.
Step 4—Tell students that they need to get a paper and pencil/pen. Hand out the strips of colored circle stickers. Have students write their names on each sticker.
Explain the activity. Students are going to look at the pictures again. They must follow protocol. Write the process of the assignment on the board.
PROTOCOL:
1) Do not consult with anyone else.
2) Make your own decisions.
3) There is no wrong answer.
4) Pretend that you are a judge and select three (3) pictures that you like the best (can select up to five if the class is small).
5) Place the corresponding colored stickers in the margin of the picture selected.
6) Write down
- the number of each picture;
- a brief description of the picture;
- the reasons they like the picture.
Explain meaning of colored stickers:
BLUE = 1st Place RED = 2nd Place YELLOW = 3rd Place WHITE = 4th Place GREEN = 5th Place
Step 5—Give the students several minutes to make their decisions and write their notes. Call out how much time they have left to finish the exercise until everyone has completed their selections and notated them on their paper.
Step 6—Have everyone stand by their 3rd Place (yellow sticker) picture. (If the class is small, this exercise can start with the 4th or 5thPlace picture and work up to the 1st Place picture. It is important to be constantly aware of the time left in this class period.)
Ask each and every student to respond to the following questions:
What picture did you select?
Why did you make this choice?
What is it about the picture that you like? Why?
Give me an adjective that describes this picture? (traditional, romantic, modern, bold, soft, etc.)
Continue to ask questions to help the students develop specifics about their choices—such as:
What mood does the picture emit?
Is that the kind of feeling you want your production to have?
What period of time does it represent?
(Remember that no answer is wrong. This is an opportunity for the students to express what they like and why. Do not allow anyone in the class to negate any of the choices the students make.)
Step 7—Repeat step 6 until the every student has expressed their ideas about each of his/her decisions.
Step 8—Bring the class together to discuss how this exercise can help them develop their own production concept. (Gives the students different ideas; helps the students visualize their own concepts, etc.)
Step 9—Have students take out their director’s concept worksheets from the previous lesson. If they have not completed it, have them fill it out to help formulate their concepts.
Step 10—Show the students some sample concepts (handout). Read them aloud so students can analyze and discuss them to enable the students to better understand how to write their own concepts. Have the students develop their concept statements by following:
- Write the three or four most evocative words or phrases you can think of to describe the feel of how you want the play tolook.
- Begin your descriptions.
- You can approach each of the seven elements in this way, finally linking them together in a nice paragraph.
(1) themes of the play
(2) mood/atmosphere (that will best communicate the themes of the play)
(3) overall look or feel (that will best communicate the themes of the play)
(4) general observations about character (that best communicate the themes of the play)
(5) general observations about the virtual space (the setting) of the play
(6) general observations about the language and symbols found in the play
(7) practical thoughts on the time period of the play
- Pay attention to grammar and punctuation!
Step 11—Have students write their concept for their theme. Provide help and advice as students need it.
HOMEWORK: Students must type their concept and put it in their portfolio binder.
Find and bring an image that represents the concept, and file it in their portfolio binder.
Assessment
Participation and written concept
Author's Notes
POSSIBLE ADAPTATIONS: Have students select one of the pictures on the wall to represent their production concept and write/type the concept on the basis of this picture.