OVERVIEW:
Today and tomorrow we will be watching segments of Schindler's List. (We will probably not get a chance to see the entire movie, but we'll see how the time goes!) In order to prepare ourselves for our final project - shooting our own documentary, which will include editing - we have to start out small: Looking at the basics. This week we will be focusing on Schindler's List, examining different aspects of the film, including cinematography, lighting, sound, and acting.

Each of you will be paying close attention to a particular aspect of the film; you will have the chance to pay attention to each of the four categories on the worksheet I will be handing out in class (download), but I am not expecting you to fill out the entire sheet all at once. Instead, in each of the four classes in which we watch both movies, you will be filling in one block; which block you fill out will be determined in class. By the time we have viewed segments of both movies, you will have filled in at least two blocks per movie, although when we go over the information at the end of class I will expect you to take notes as well. I will leave about 10 or 12 minutes at the end of each class period in which we watch a movie so that we can talk about what we have seen, and to fill in the gaps.

As you fill out the worksheet, keep the following questions in the back of your mind:
1.) How were the relationships portrayed? How did Schindler treat others around him?
2.) How do you think he was affected by the war? What may have prompted him to take action?
3.) What might be someone's motivation to do what Schindler did? (You can download the actual copy of Schindler's List here.)
4.) Steven Spielberg may have felt it very important to tell Schindler's story. What might be some of the reasons to document history? (Keep this question in mind especially; when you are working on your documentary you will have to decide what is important to the message you want the world to know.)