Since last week, the Sec 2’s started their project presentations on Movie Analysis. So far only about 1-2 groups manage to do their presentation each week; thanks to the highly incompetent laptop in the music room. That aside, I was able to see how some groups have learnt how to watch a movie from a critique’s point of view while some are still in the infant stage of wanting to know the plot and worse, when their favourite movie star is going to appear next. For those who have been successful, I am glad they are able to break down the director’s intentions of camera, lighting, colour and most importantly music, for the viewer. In fact, some observations made by students were rather impressive. I in particular, like the analysis of “Twilight” done by this group from 2E1. Manygroups have chosen this movie but so far this group has done pretty well. I hope students can take this skill with them for the rest of their lives; they will no longer watch a movie the same way they used to. I remember taking a module in NUS called “Film Art”. It changed my viewer’s perspective permanently. Till today whenever I watch a movie, it is second nature to watch it critically. I hope what has been taught to the kids about movie analysis will have the same impact.
For sec 1’s, they are now in the midst of learning the 2nd song on the xylophone. I thought the song was relatively easy but i was quite wrong. Section A was but not B. Even the best class had some difficulty managing it. The difficulty came about as they had to play 2 notes at a time. Even though the 2 notes were 3 notes apart (which was why I thought made the song easy),they somehow got very confused. I tried showing to the them the pattern of the song, didn’t help much. Then I told them to memorise the tune of the song as that’s how people who don’t have music background learn music most of the time. Worked for some but many were still grappling with having to coordinate the 2 notes. The last method I tried, which is still in the process of being tried out, is getting students to play the right hand part first. Once they’ve got that, they just need to put in the left hand which is 3 notes away from the right hand. So far I see more progress. Most students are able to manage that. Of course with the help of having already memorised the tune. Next week, they will move on to putting in the left hand and I hope it will be voila!
It is wonderful that some of our pupils are able to analyse parts of movies and more specifically how the role music contributes to the whole perception. I am sure that some of them, like yourself in NUS, will remember this manner of perception long after they have left school.
It is always good to be critical as it forces us to think, and children should start doing this from young. This is definitely a deficit in our culture in this part of the world, it impedes creativity and breeds mediocrity.
There is a parallel in the manner we analyse movie-making in visual arts too. At some stage during the analysis of a film clip, the sound is switched off, with the full focus on just the visuals. This allows us to isolate specifics of the production so that we can understand and learn them better.
Comment by Siew Weng — April 11, 2009 @ 4:22 am