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Irish Film - An Introduction: Trinity College Ann Marie O 'Brien

This document provides an introduction and overview of Irish film. It discusses expected learning outcomes from using Irish short films in the classroom, including developing literacy and critical thinking skills. It also covers common themes in Irish films, notable Irish actors and directors, the history of Irish film, and how film can be analyzed from a literary perspective. Overall, the document serves as a guide for using Irish short films in education.

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365 views32 pages

Irish Film - An Introduction: Trinity College Ann Marie O 'Brien

This document provides an introduction and overview of Irish film. It discusses expected learning outcomes from using Irish short films in the classroom, including developing literacy and critical thinking skills. It also covers common themes in Irish films, notable Irish actors and directors, the history of Irish film, and how film can be analyzed from a literary perspective. Overall, the document serves as a guide for using Irish short films in education.

Uploaded by

api-246605848
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Irish Film – an introduction

Trinity College
Ann Marie O’Brien
Aim of Workshop
➢ To show how a selection of Irish short
films can be used to develop students’
literacy skills – oral, visual, writing – and
critical thinking skills
Expected learning outcomes for
participants
➢ Appreciation of the rich possibilities
inherent in Irish short films for promoting
inclusive, quality learning environments

➢ Knowledge of how to develop multiple


literacies through the imaginative use of
Irish short films to create quality teaching
and learning environments
Your expectations of an Irish film?
➢ Particular genre?

➢ Particular themes?

➢ Particular actors?

➢ Particular settings?
What do you know of Irish Film?
➢ Films (titles)
➢ Directors
➢ Actors
➢ Locations
➢ Themes
What kind of stories do you expect in Irish
films?
Is there any film genre that you associate
with Irish film e.g. comedy, thriller,
romance?
Irish Film
Actors Directors
Kenneth Branagh Neil Jordan
Gabriel Byrne Damien O’Donnell
Daniel Day Lewis Jim Sheridan
Colin Farrell Gerard Stembridge
Brendan Gleeson
Colm Meany
Cillian Murphy
Liam Neeson
Sinead, Sorcha & Niamh
Cusack
Brenda Fricker
Saoirse Ronan
Several recurrent themes
➢ Church
➢ Family
➢ Crime
➢ Northern Ireland
➢ Literary adaptation
➢ Landscape
Early history of Irish film
➢ Lumière brothers made earliest recorded
film in 1890s

➢ The Dawn (1936) – First full-length


indigenous sound film made in Ireland
A War of Independence story set in
County Kerry
National Film Institute
➢ 1940s& 1950s produced many
Government sponsored “information” type
films

➢ Subjects included health, agriculture and


savings
Theme: Landscape
➢ Physical, geographical, psychological,
spiritual, economic etc.

Questions we can ask:


➢ How is landscape represented?
➢ Who is representing it?
➢ How has it changed?
Landscape: American view
➢ The Quiet Man (1956)

➢ Director John Ford

➢ Actor John Wayne


Irish Film Board (established 1981)
➢ Emergence of independent Irish film
makers

➢ Wanted to represent Ireland as it really


was
My Left Foot (1989)
➢ Director Jim Sheridan
➢ Film won 2 Oscars
➢ Significant film – Irish given new
confidence, now believed they could ‘do
cinema’
Other notable films by Sheridan
➢ The Field (1990)
➢ Into the West (1992)
Irish films in the 1990s
➢ Family

➢ Gangsters – Hollywood influence on local


landscape

➢ Adaptations from books


The General (1995)
➢ DirectorJohn Boorman
➢ Theme of crime
➢ Actor Brendan Gleeson as Martin Cahill
➢ Black and white film
➢ Hollywood influence – jazz soundtrack
➢ Beautifully shot film
Contemporary Ireland
➢ About Adam (2000), No religion, no
alcohol, no violence, Temple Bar
➢ Intermission (2003), First time 3 stories
told at the same time
➢ Adam & Paul (2004), Ulysses for 2004
➢ Inside I’m Dancing (2004 ), Disability
➢ Once (2006), Immigration and culture
➢ The Guard (2011),Comedy thriller
Focus on a film maker: Neil Jordan
Films include:
➢ Mona Lisa (1986)
➢ The Crying Game (1992)
➢ Michael Collins (1986)
➢ The Butcher Boy (1997)
➢ The End of the Affair (1999)
➢ Breakfast on Pluto (2005)
➢ Ondine (2009)
Recent developments
➢ Documentaries now popular
➢ Quality work coming from Ireland
➢ Observational, realistic approach taken
Examples:
His and Hers (2009)- Director Ken Wardrop
Pyjama Girls (2009)-Director Maya
Derrington
Knuckle (2011) - Dir. Ian Palmer
One Million Dubliners (2014) – Dir.
Aoife Kelleher
Film today in Ireland
➢ Short films – English and Irish language
➢ Film making more accessible
➢ Film festivals countrywide, courses and
workshops
➢ Irish Film Institute
➢ Film used as visual text for exam purposes
in English curriculum at second-level

http://www.ifi.ie/studyguides
Film language
Useful vocabulary when discussing film –
Beginner: Actor/actress, director, producer,
writer
Intermediate: Genre, close-up, long-shot,
scene, drama,
Advanced: Motif, metaphor, sequence,
score, framing

Class activity suggestions:


Sentence forming exercises, gap-fill exercises,
word searches, crossword, film analysis
The White Dress
➢ Pre-viewing activity

➢ Alternative titles for film

➢ Character work

➢ Role on the Wall

http://www.thisisirishfilm.ie
Role on the Wall activity
➢ Draw an outline of a body on sheet
➢ Write words inside the body to describe
what you imagine to be the girl’s feelings
➢ Write words outside the body that describe
the problems/pressures you imagine the
girl experiences in relation to her home
life, school life and peers
Donkey
➢ Pre-viewing activity

➢ Oral literacy focus

➢ Postcards

➢ Wanted poster

http://www.thisisirishfilm.ie
Postcard
Greeting

What life is like now

Why donkey left his job

Advice for his former boss

Sign off
Wanted poster
➢ Drawing of donkey
➢ Donkey’s crime – desertion, walking out…
➢ Physical description of donkey
➢ Any other important information about
donkey
➢ The reward offered for the capture of
donkey
Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping
Beauty

➢ Pre-viewing activity

➢ Oral literacy focus

➢ Alternative fairytale

http://www.thisisirishfilm.ie
Taking a thematic approach
Common themes
➢ Relationships, injustice, reality/truth,
isolation, vulnerability, struggle,
independence

Other themes
➢ Childhood (The White Dress and Granny
O’Grimm)
➢ Conflict (Donkey and Granny O’Grimm)
➢ Escape (The White Dress and Donkey)
Other Irish short films
➢ Signs

➢ Pentecost

➢ Sandpiper

➢ Flyboy

➢ New Boy

➢ Rúbaí(Irish, subtitled, deals with


bereavement)
What do all good stories
have?
➢ Your responses…
What do all good stories
have?
Examples
 Setting
 Plot or storyline
 Characters
 Point of view
 Atmosphere/Tone
 Conflict (problem, obstacle)/action
 Interesting beginning
 Ending
Signs – Irish short film
Identify the elements of story used in the
Irish short film Signs.
http://bit.ly/1OmBiBg
Use of Irish short films with your
students
Comments, observations …

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