To Kill A Mockingbird
Adaptation Project
Unit Overview
Text to Film Adaptation
As a class we are reading the novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Before we begin reading, students will list their top three choices for which film production role they want to fulfill. The roles are: casting director, dialogue director, director, soundtrack designer, and storyboard artist. Students will be assigned to a production team and as a group they will produce a concept for an adaptation of the novel. While reading, students will be responsible for sticky-noting areas in the text that are related to their production role. For example, in areas that give clues to characterization, the casting director could include sticky notes to refer to while working with the production team for the unit project.
Roles
Casting director: The casting director will be responsible for choosing actors and actresses to fulfill the main character roles (see casting director page). Each casting choice must be included with a written rationale with textual support (direct or indirect characterization) for that choice.
Dialogue director: The dialogue director will be responsible for choosing key quotations from the dialogue in the text and synthesizing both actual quotations from characters with other narrative information to produce a script for one selected scene.
Director: The director is responsible for focusing on visual aspects of production such as scene, props and stage direction. The director will work closely with both the dialogue director and the storyboard artist.
Soundtrack designer: The soundtrack designer will focus on auditory aspects of the adaptation and will be responsible for finding appropriate music to reflect the tone/mood of particular scenes. Each selected song should include a rationale for the choice.
Storyboard artist: The storyboard artist will focus on visually depicting a selected scene from the novel, and will work closely with the dialogue director and director for text/visual ideas for the scene.
After students have sticky noted and finished the text, their production teams will meet to choose one scene on which to focus their collaborative work. Once they choose the scene, students will work together to produce an adaptation concept to present to the rest of the class. Each member of the team will describe his/her role and contribution to the scene.
After the teams have presented their scene adaptations, we will show corresponding scenes from the film To Kill a Mockingbird (Mulligan, 1962). As students view these clips, they will fill out a t-chart handout to analyze ways in which their adaptations were similar to or differed from the film adaptation scenes.
Concluding Activity:
After the team-created adaptations and t-chart viewing activity of the actual film adaptation, students will take the role of a film critic and create 3-4 minute podcast. Students will all watch the same scene in To Kill a Mockingbird and reflect on casting, sound effects, and cinematography choices in that scene. How do those choices affect mood/tone/interpretation of the scene? Were the choices effective? If so, how? If not, how could it have been more effective?
See the Critic Podcasts page for more detailed information.
Performance Assessment
Students will be assessed individually on their ability to create a podcast from the perspective of a character in To Kill a Mockingbird.
See the Character Monologue Podcasts page for more detailed information.
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