The Hunger Games - Symbols

What Am I learning?
I am learning about symbols in the movie The Hunger Games
How Does This Show My Learning?
This shows my learning by being able to explain some symbols and explain them in detail and also able to give scenes where these symbols are seen
What Am I wondering?
What would people use in place of symbols if symbols aren't used?

Essay Planning -

Describe at least one way that a character or individual changed in the text. Explain how this change was important to the text as a whole.

Brainstorm

Katniss
- Emotionally and Physically stronger
- More powerful and popular - Everyone knows who she is.

- Begining - Caring for her sister, shy, quiet, strength in hunting/archery shows caring and selflessness when she volunteers for Prim in the reaping, Values family

- Middle - Determined, Cautious - runs away and hides, smart, doesn't kill unless she has too, still see she is caring and looks after others, Doesn't want to use her skill to hunt others, She watches people die - her reactions are big. forms an alliance with Peeta which makes them favourites in Capitol, More cunning - no longer oblivious to the influence of the Capitol - we see when she forms alliances with Peeta. 

- End - Angry, Powerful - has power over the Capitol because she was going to end the games with no victors, intimidating

Theme link to -
Hope and Rebellion - Starts following the capitols rules but by the end, she stops and rebels against them.

Rich Vs Poor - Not a good choice

Propaganda -She goes against the propaganda of the Capitol - They are fighting for Glory, the Capitol is superior, the games are a good thing.

Struggle for Power - in the games she was powerless, eventually she gains the power through rebellions

Thesis Statement
In Gary Ross' film, The Hunger Games, one way that Katniss Changed was by gaining power and influence in the Capitol. This is shown through her struggles with the theme of hope and rebellion.

P1 - Describe her at the Begining of the movie in detail - clothes, family, makeup, values, characteristics. Sentence linking to the theme - has no hope at the start, Look for quotes 

P2 - Describe the change in the middle in detail, link to the theme

P3 - 

The Hunger Games - Music Workshop

Chords 
Major - Upbeat, Happy music tone
Minor - Sad tone

Tempo
Fast  - Energetic, Intense, Gain interest
Slow - Bored, Lazy, Lethargic,

Dynamics
loud - Energy, Intense, Rising action
Quiet - Background, Make you focus/listen, Builds tension

Diagetic Sound - sounds that happen naturally, E.G footsteps

Non-Diagetic Sound - Sounds added to a scene - Music


What Scene? - Opening Scene

Techniques -
- Minor Chords - tired
- Slow tempo
- Gained Volume - builds intensity
- Non-diagetic sound

Audience Feel - 
- Sad Scene, Foreshadowing, Interested

Directors Purpose -
- Build emotion/Atmosphere
---------------------------------
What Scene - The Reaping Scene - Music Starts as Katniss Walks to the stage

Techniques -
- Minor Chords
- Slow Tempo
- Dynamics - Gains volume, then drops, then builds

Audience Feel -
- Emotional, eery, Ominoius, Melancholic

Directors Purpose -
- Foreshadowing Sadness, Katniss just volunteered, will most likely be eliminated.
- Lets us feel Katnisses emotions on a personal level.
---------------------------------
What Scene - Rues Death - Rue is killed, Katniss Prepares her body - Surrounds by flowers, Salutes the TV camera.

Techniques -
- Minor Chords 
- Slow to medium tempo
- Dynamics - Builds to Forte

Audience Feel -
- Katniss' Grief, Sorrow, Misery, Anger at the unfair death of her friend

Directors Purpose -

- Make us feel Katniss' emotions

- More intense than if we heard her scream, makes us notice more

- uses music to tell us the pain she feels.

The Hunger Games - Challenges Chart - Characters

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What am I learning?

- I am learning about characters, challenges, how they have overcome these challenges and what they are like. 

How does this show my learning?

- This shows my learning by being able to explain challenges and reactions towards them and being able to present it in a way that people can understand.

What am I wondering?

- What other things would be important for a character?

The Hunger Games - Characters Workshop

Brainstorm
What's Happening - Reaping Scene - 2 tributes selected to compete in the Hunger Games
- Best Dressed

Describe costumes
- Light colours, Neutral tones, old fashioned, simple
- Boys - Dress Shirts, Pants, or shorts, Sunday best
- Girls - Hair tidy, dresses or skirts, Sunday best
- Colours - cold, clean, washed and worn a lot
- Older clothes mended

Effect of Viewer
- Think they are poor because clothes are outdated 
       - Peacekeepers / Effie in new clothes in new clean outfits
       - Drained
Director Purpose
- show the comparison/ Juxtaposition of the district and the capital
- Shows theme "Rich Vs Poor" because the district doesn't have access to resources like new clothing

Other Techniques
- Makeup - Style = Status, Effies eyelashes are long + Pink and her face is white. The district has no makeup - no access or need for it.

PHOTO 2

What Happening
- In the Capitol, Katniss and Peeta just getting off the train, never have been there before.

Describe Costumes
- Bright, colourful, neon, extravagant, vibrant, oversized
- Look expensive and more fancy than casual. 
- Over the top - Excessive, more than needed to be practical 
- headpieces to match, wigs
- both genders over the top outfits/wigs/makeup 

Effect on Viewer
- think they are rich
- Fashion is shocking/ scary to viewer - have more than us
- Show us how shocked/different things are for Katniss and Peeta

Director Purpose
-Again showing us the theme "Rich Vs Poor" - The people in Capitol live in extreme luxury compared to the poverty of district 12.
- People in the Capitol have everything
- Makeup - over the top - caked on so we know they have lots of it. men/Women are wearing it. 

Other Techniques
- Setting - Concrete, metal, glass, clean, crisp, futuristic, technologically advanced

PHOTO 3
What Happening
- In the arena of the Hunger Games
Describe Costumes
- Practical - Suitable for fighting
- Jackets, Boots, Shirts, Long Pants
- Colours that will match surroundings - help them hide
- tells them about the arena climate 
- not going far as not much

Effect on Viewer
- Feels they are dressed for war/hunting - all dressed the same uniform 
- all look same - everyone has the same advantage.
- makes us less emotionally attached to individuals

Director Purpose
- Rich Vs Poor - everyone is finally equal so personal skills become important
- Struggle for Power - Tributes are under the power of the Capitol, they have no freedom/ free will at this point.

Other Techniques

The Hunger Games - Freytags Pyramid - Plot

What am I learning?
- I am learning to analyse a plot in a film.

How does this show my learning?
- This shows my learning because I have understood the timeline and the plot of the film. This also shows my learning by being able to describe what each of the labels mean and also give examples of what is related to the label.

What am I wondering?
- I am wondering if this can be used also in books, not only movies.

Film Study - The Hunger Games

Opening Scene:
Music:
Slow(Timbre)
Minor tone (often means something bad is happening or about to happen.)
Silence: Grabs Attention

Camera Shots: Mid Shots - To show facial and body language
Closeup - Katniss and Prim, To show emotions
Wideview - See setting, get more information at once
Extreme Closeup - Focus on specific information eg, the sign says “Danger!”
Tracking Shot - showed how her surroundings changed, that she was going somewhere.
Shaky camera - More realistic, unsettling, as if it’s running with her, makes sense for the scene; during district 12 opening

Dialogue:Crane and Caeser - Celebration “ Knitting people together”
Cranes “Style” of game making make Prim cry and Scream.
Prim dreams it was her selected
Katniss says “It’s your first time, you won’t get picked” - Foreshadowing

Colour and Lighting:The interview - Saturated colours, very bright. Neon, very artificial. Cold light.
District 12 - Dull, Bland, natural, Dark, Cold light as well.

The Reaping:
Music:
Capitals video - major
saying it is a good
War in the past was worse
Rest the music - minor
Kids are terrified

Camera Shots:
Close up -
Katniss’ reaction to Prim’s name being called
Effie - about to read names
See her makeup
Shows how she is different from everyone else
Shows she is rich

Medium range -
Effie Takes Katniss & Peeta away
When Katniss is in the crowd

Long/wide shot -
Effie looking out
To see the mass of people

Panning -
When people show respect and lift their fingers for her

Point of view -
Katniss looking for Prim
When giving sing of respect
Watching the capital’s film
When Katniss walked upstarts - Extra Shaky to show her fear

Flashback -
A memory of Peeta and the bread
Show she knows him
He helps her


Dialogue:
Reading out the names
Calm at first, then screaming
“I volunteer, I volunteer as tribute” - Sister bond
First Volunteer from District 12
Effie -
surprised - volunteer makes her feel better - would get a promotion
Excited - entertainment
Calm - doesn’t have to sacrifice



Propaganda - Information that gives a bias opinion to sway someone.
Post-truth
Where do we see it?
Video from capital
The game itself if propaganda - all the tributes

Real Message You have fought back once and lost now we can kill your children, there is nothing you can do.

Propaganda Message It is not a bad thing
If you win, you will be a hero to your district.
The boy and girl in the film
Big, strong, healthy, fit
How they remember their past
Don’t give detail ‘why’ there was a revolt
Played every year - Gale Mocks it
Effie Recites
So people from the capital believe in the entertainment

Key Words
Honour
Glory
Eliminated
Peacekeepers

Rich (Capital) The amount of food
Bright Colour
Costuming - Extravagant
Modern Architecture
Everything is controlled by Capital - No nature
Clean
It is healthy
Materials Like stone, marble, metals

Poor (District 12)
People starving
Dull colours
Costumes - Wearing ‘ best’ types
Stereotype
Small and sickly - don’t stand a chance in the Hunger Games
Old farmhouses/Shacks
Old
Need Repair
Dirty
One good building for filming
Control
Materials - Mostly wood

Hope


Scene with Snow
Dialogue
- The only thing stronger than fear.
- Link to propaganda - false sense of hope that at least one will live.
- Just killing everyone would cause resentment - capital doesn’t want to kill everyone, they need them.
- Hope is only effective is contained

Camera Shots- Mid - Between crane and Snow talking to show expression & body language.
- POV - President Snow & Crane - showing their deep conversation
- Close Up- Of rose 

- Pruning - a metaphor for his “perfect Society” for control.

Rues Death

Music - Sad minor
- Medium Timbre
- Progress to being more powerful - more hopeful.

Camera Shots
- Extreme Close up - Flowers
                - Flower ring showed she really cared for Rue
                - Showing that the game will not changer her
- POV/High Angle - Showing that she is aware that she is being watched.

Rebelling - District 11 - Links to “black lives” very well
Music
- Up Tempo
- More aggressive/ emotional 

Camera Shots - Tracking

- Close up
          - Close up of hands
          -Really important
          - Shows they are untied

- Link to symbol to black lives matter move.

- Wide
             - To show all the people 

- Birds Eye View
                 - Drone coming, blowing papers - drone landing effect.
                 - Papers were important
                 - Shows technology - capital is bigger and strong 

- Cutting shots of shaky camera
                - Creates Tension
                - Showed the chaos 

                - The camera became more stable as capital regained control

Lighting
- At the start of the scene, it was day
- At the end it was night
            - Shows fighting for hours

Rebellion

Music
- Sad minor tempo
- Powerful
- Enhanced the drama
- No lyrics - Emphasise her words, adds to the depth of the scene

Dialogue
- Willing to die together
- Katniss rebelling against the propaganda of ‘There has to be a victor’
- Voice owner urgently saying ‘stop’
- Katniss has beaten them at their own game.
- The first-time loophole has been found at Capitals game
- 1st time 2 victors
- She embarrassed the Capital

Camera Shots
Close up
- See both Peeta and Katniss reaction
- Capital citizen and Crane’s reaction - Surprised.

Overhead - When the booming voice came
- Remind the game that makers had been in control until this point

Extreme close up
- Berries
      - They were the thing that changed everything

Rich Vs Poor
Poor
Close up - of a guy eating everything he could.
- Food is precious - people here are starving
- Cat was malnourished
- Really dirty - mud everywhere
- Flies everywhere - cleaning is not a priority 

Extreme Close up - Electric Fence Sign
- Fence not on, don’t have enough resources and money to power it.

Costuming and Setting
- Looked like they are in the past
- Wooden
- Old, run-down
- Minors were going into the mine but were still covered in soot.

Rich
Establishing Shot - Of the Capital
- See the buildings, the grandeur
- Everything was modern
- Saw technology
- White/Clean/Crisp
- Condemning
- Fashion and makeup really extravagant

Closeup
- To see the lady with big gold eyelashes
- The pink poodle
- Gives a huge contrast to lives in the district
- Fashion is a status thing here - They want the next best thing - represents wealth.
- Capital clothing is for looks
- Districts clothing is for practicality.
- Capital Clothing is for looks - artificial material bright
- District clothing is for practicality - more natural