Year 6 Transition work Media Folklore and Fairytales Co-op Academy Walkden June 2020 Read Vladimir Propp (1895 - 1970) was a Russian academic who specialised in studying folklore and fairy tales. He spent a lot of time reading these stories and comparing how they were structured and created. He discovered that there were many similarities between them; in particular, the repetition of the characters. He found that there were six types of characters which were found in almost every single story. He defined them as: the hero, the villain, the dispatcher, the helper, the donor and the princess/prize. •The Hero –This is the main character whom the audience will recognise as the key person in the story. This character is usually good, who we want to succeed. They are usually completing some sort of quest or journey. •The Villain –This character is the opposite to the Hero and is often there to create the disruption or problem in the story. This character is usually bad. This can sometimes be a situation (e.g. climate change) rather than a character. •The Dispatcher –This character usually befriends or is familiar with the hero. They are the person or being who will set the hero on their quest or journey. •The Helper – The main character usually has a companion who helps the main character, gives advice and supports them throughout their journey. •The Donor – This character is similar to the role of the Helper. The character will give the main character something which helps him solve the problem in the story. •The Princess/Prize – This character can be the reward for the Hero or the person whom the Hero and False Hero are in competition for. Just as with The Villain, this could also be a situation or an object rather than an actual person. It is important to understand that characters within a story can fit more than one character type! These character types are so common that they can be found in the vast majority of films and television programmes. Let’s look at how these can be applied to the popular film - Shrek - on the following page. Let’s Read… Glossary 1.Underline any words that you don’t understand or haven’t seen before 2.Find a definition for those words and write them down. 3.Can you find 2 synonyms for each word in your glossary/ Character Character type Reason The story revolves around Shrek and his quest to free Shrek Hero his swamp home of fairytale characters. He is seen as good, particularly because of the mean way he is treated by other people. Lord Farquaad is trying to rid Lord Farquard Villan the kingdom of fairytale folk and have ultimate power. He has sent all of the characters and creatures to invade Shrek’s home. Donkey joins Shrek on his Donkey Helper quest to rescue Princess Fiona. He helps him along the way (although Shrek doesn’t always appreciate it) and by the end of the film Shrek and he are best friends. Princess Fiona is the key to Shrek Princess Fiona Princess/Prize getting his home back but after he rescues her from the dragon he realises that his swamp is not enough and that she is his true love and his happily ever after. Although Lord Farquaad is the villain he is also the dispatcher as Lord Farquard Dispatcher he sets Shrek on the quest to save Princess Fiona. In the final battle between Shrek and Lord Farquaad, the The Muffin Donor Muffin Mun provides Shrek with Mongo - the magical, Man giant gingerbread man who helps Shrek gain entry to the castle. Think In Media Studies we learn all about how different types of media are constructed and the messages which they communicate to an audience. We explore all sorts of media products such as: films, television programmes, music videos, adverts, newspapers, magazines, video games and websites. For this task, you will be creating a film idea about climate change whilst learning about how film stories are constructed. Complete the following activities: 1)Read the information sheet titled Propp’s Theory Reading Sheet 2)Watch the film WALL.E if you are able to access it for free (available on Disney+ if already subscribed), if not, read through the WALL.E plot sheet and watch the trailer on YouTube. 3)Complete and fill in the Propp’s Theory and WALL.E sheet identifying the characters from the film with the character roles. Also identify how WALL.E’s plot links to the theme of climate change 4)Now you need to generate an idea for your own climate change based film. If you are struggling for ideas, you could develop one of the rough ideas below. Remember to write up your idea in detail on the Film Idea Sheet. IDEA 1 - An evil force is using the students of Co-op Academy Walkden to destroy planet Earth by speeding up climate change. A small group of students rebel and save the day and our planet. IDEA 2 - A student at Co-op Academy Walkden invents something which will save the planet or so they think! Things go terribly wrong but led by success and greed they do not realise they are killing the Earth. It’s up to a band of Year 7s to fix it and save the world. IDEA 3 - Come up with your own unique idea but make sure it is linked to Co-op Academy Walkden in some way. Success Criteria 1)Give your film an appropriate and catchy title (best to come up with this after you have your idea) 2)Write up your film’s plot in detail. Be specific with what happens in your film - be- ginning, middle and end. 3)Add details to your plot including character and place names. 4)Make sure you have used Propp’s character roles - do you have a clear Hero, Villain, Helper and Princess/Prize, etc.? Identify these on your film idea sheet clearly. 5)Explain how your film has links to climate change and how Co-op Academy Walk- den could improve their carbon footprint. Read Read the plot summary of Wall-E During the 21st century the world was governed by the commercial company 'Buy n Large' (BnL). This caused mass consumerism which led to the earth becoming cov- ered by trash by the year 2105. In an attempt to solve the problem all of earth's living inhabitants were put on a fully automated luxury BnLstarline (for an estimated time period of 5 years) and shipped into space, leaving robots behind to clean up the mess. However, this plan failed resulting in the humans having to live in space indef- initely. Now 700 years later in the year 2805 the journey begins. WALL-E is the only robot left, he survived by salvaging parts over the years from broken WALL-E units. WALL-E has also developed emotion over his long period of loneliness. Although he does have one friend, Hal, a cockroach. One day, while going through his daily routine, WALL-E stubbles upon a seeding plant and takes it home to his old transport truck. Later an intricate, clean spaceship lands and deploys a new probe robot, EVE. WALL-E being isolated for so long and now obsessed with the idea of love immediately falls for EVE. At first EVE is hostile towards WALL-E but comes around and starts to warm up to him, when she does WALL-E takes her to his truck and begins showing her his most special finds, includ- ing the plant. This causes her automated systems to kick in and store the plant inside her and activate a homing signal while deactivating her. WALL-E does everything he can think of to revive her and when that doesn't work he just tries to take care of her, he even takes her out on a date. After a few days EVE's ship returns to collect her and WALL-E desperately clings onto it and is taken aboard the Axiom, the flagship on the BnL fleet. When the ship has docked WALL-E follows EVE through the process of being exam- ined. WALL-E gets separated from EVE as she is being transported to the captain’s quarters and sees humans. It very suddenly becomes apparent that humans have become obese and lost bone structure from lack of exercise and almost constant con- sumption of food in drink form. The captain has become very lazy, leaving the control on the ship in the hands of the autopilot (AUTO). When EVE arrives in the captain's quarters the captain learns how to use the plant as a homing mechanism to get back to earth as the plant is a sign on the earth being habitable again. However, when EVE is opened, the plant is missing and she is transported to the repair ward because she is deemed defective. WALL-E who has been watching all of this happen is also taken to the repair ward to be cleaned. When WALL-E and EVE have left, the captain uses his computer and starts researching the earth, becoming more and more interested and more and more determined to return home. At the repair ward WALL-E is put in a futuristic cage and EVE is taken behind a frost- ed window which allows WALL-E to see her silhouette. EVE is being pampered and cleaned but through the glass it appears to WALL-E that she is being harmed. WALL-E immediately takes action, using this laser to break through his confinement and charg- ing through the glass window while accidentally releasing a hoard of robots that were being kept there for repairs.